


A way back home

by Oakenshieldsgold



Series: Junjou Apocalypse [1]
Category: Junjou Romantica, Sekai-ichi Hatsukoi
Genre: Age Difference, Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Alternate Universe - Zombies, Amputation, Angst, Blow Jobs, Death, Drama, Homophobia, Homophobic Language, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Minor Character Death, Nipple Play, Rimming, Romance, Sex, Takahiro is a dick, Violence, Yaoi, Zombie Apocalypse, everyone is in love and its all fine i promise, i'll add more later, long fic, lots of zombies, they start having lots of hot angsty apocalypse sex, until its not
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-25
Updated: 2017-11-07
Packaged: 2018-04-06 01:21:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 23
Words: 84,462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4202505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oakenshieldsgold/pseuds/Oakenshieldsgold
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The zombie apocalypse was the last thing anyone was expecting. Now our three couples must fight to for their lives, loved ones and for their sanity. Shinobu and Miyagi are forced to keep a deadly secret, Hiroki and Nowaki are pushed to the limits of their humanity and Misaki and Akihiko are further apart than ever before. In a world where only the strong can make it, and those who show weakness first, die first, who will survive the zombie apocalypse?</p><p>NEW CHAPTER (finally lmao)<br/>****This story is officially longer than Harry Potter and the Philosophers stone RIP me</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Where we were

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! I hope you all enjoy this story! Suggestions/ feedback are all welcome! I do have a direction for this story, which may just include bringing in Sekaiichi Hatsukoi but lets see if I get there! Warning for graphic descriptions of violence and some sexy times ahead!

Misaki’s eyes fluttered open. The sun was pouring into the dark room warming his back. there were warm covers shielding his naked body from view and a strong arm draped lazily over his torso. It would have been the perfect morning, except…  
“SENSEI! Where the hell is your manuscript?! The printers have been calling me all morning!” Misaki’s eyes flew open as he felt something move beside him. A dark aura was emanating from Usami Akihiko, so strong it could have made any person run for their lives. but not misaki.  
“Baka-Usagi get up and get your work done!” He yelled springing out of bed. He heard Aikawa-san stifling an elated gasp behind him as he realised that he was still naked. No man had ran out of a room quicker.

Rice was bubbling in the stove as Misaki leant on the counter flicking through the latest edition of “The Kan” with the radio humming in the background. It had been a few hours since Usagi had finally dragged himself out of bed and into his study, with Aikawa fuming behind him. Misaki sighed as he flicked over the last page of the volume and set it on the counter. There really wasn’t much going on in his life, he thought as he turned down the cooker. On any normal day he would get up, start cooking, be assaulted by Usagi-san, go to university and then come home for more Usagi. he drained the rice, maybe it was time he tried to do something for himself. He hadn’t even noticed the radio buzz turn suddenly urgent  
“...experts are telling us the outbreak is becoming highly contagious, at the sign of symptoms report immediately to your local hospital. The infected are hostile and should be avoided at all costs, if you encounter an infected please call…” but Misaki, oblivious to the warnings, was engrossed in washing the rice for breakfast. He heard the office door slam and saw a fully dressed Usagi and Aikawa coming down the stairs.  
“Misaki-kun we’re heading out! I’ll bring you some cream puffs next time I’m here!” Aikawa called from the hallway. Misaki smiled and went back to cooking, only to realise the leeks were nowhere to be seen. He groaned and Usagi came over to him ruffling his hand in to the smaller man's hair  
“if you’re that sad I’m leaving I could always just stay and ravish you instead.” Misaki growled at him  
“Do your work! Besides we’re out of leeks, so I’m leaving too!” The pair made their way out of the apartment and into the street. Aikawa’s phone began to ring and she went ahead. Usagi grabbed Misaki and pulled him into a side street. He pressed him against the wall and kissed him fiercely, his hands finding their way to the bottom of his shirt and brushing against his smooth abdomen. Misaki gasped hands pushing Usagi’s chest. They parted for air, gasping and breathless  
“Baka Usagi, not in public!” Misaki protested weakly, knowing the older man was going to get his way. He resumed the kiss and was feeling his way up the younger’s shirt again when they heard scream from the street. Misaki took Usagi’s moment of distraction and pulled away, running into the street, Usagi followed. Aikawa was leaning against the wall clutching her chest and shaking uncontrollably. There was no one else around, Misaki assumed the sound must have come from her.  
“Aikawa-san are you okay?” Misaki asked concerned. She turned to him slowly, her face void of all colour.  
“S...S” she could barely find words, until her eyes drifted to Usagi and she launched forward and grabbed him by the collar “SENSEI YOU HAVEN’T EVEN EMAILED THE MANUSCRIPT WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!” with that the life returned to her face and she dragged the writer around the corner and out of sight. Misaki sighed and turned in the opposite direction, heading down the street and towards the station.

~~~~

Hiroki was used to the phone going to voicemail these days. Nowaki hadn’t been home for more than a few hours for weeks now. Each night he came back drained and depressed staying conscious only long enough to eat. Hiroki’s pride would never let him admit it, but it hurt his heart to see the man he loved in that state. He was practically a zombie. He tried to call or text him, but so often they went unanswered he was losing heart. Was this what the beginning of the end felt like? One person in a relationship becomes caught up in something else, the other tries to make it work, calling and cooking and everything, but eventually the love and yearning turns into resentment and loneliness. He knew the feeling. His former love for Usami Akihiko had hurt. He always wanted to be with him, but he began to feel lonely and needy in spite of himself. He sighed and pushed back his chair. He didn’t want to break up with Nowaki not ever, and he sure as hell would not be the one he caused their relationship to end. The lecture was long since over, but the morning sun still poured through the windows, heating the back of his neck. He wished, in a way, that he could be the one to help Nowaki get through this but he knew in his heart that this was something he would have to let Nowaki deal with on his own.

that day passed so fast and he didn’t even notice. He was caught up in his inner turmoil so much so that when he walked through his apartment door he didn’t notice the dark haired man sitting on the couch. He walked straight to the kitchen and took his phone out again. No missed calls, no texts. “baka…” he said quietly to himself as he boiled the pot to make some tea. He looked at his phone once more then dialled Nowaki’s number. His heart throbbed expectantly. There were a few moments when he thought it would be like before, his heart began to sink and then… ~ringgg~ his head shot up and he turned around in time to collide with a large warm chest. His face heated up as strong arms wrapped themselves around him. He froze, his eyes were wide and red.  
“Hiro-san…” Nowaki said softly pulling him closer “why are you crying?” Hiroki hadn’t noticed his tears as they were falling down his face. Was it stress from work? Relief from finally seeing Nowaki again? Or was it fear, that these moments were coming to a close? Nowaki still held him close and as long as his arms were around him he knew he was loved.  
“don’t patronise me, I’m older you know…” Hiroki replied a little too late to be convincingly annoyed. Nowaki slowly released Hiroki from his grip and bent towards his lover  
“Of course Hiro-san.” their lips met softly. Nowaki deepened the kiss his tongue finding its way past Hiroki’s lips. Hiroki’s hands were shaking slightly as he gripped tight onto Nowaki’s shirt. He felt Nowaki grip his arms and push him against the wall, closing whatever space remained between them. his hands tugged Hiroki’s shirt over his head and tossed it aside. Nowaki’s hands roamed his body, brushing over his nipples and teasing them gently. At every gasp from the smaller man he pushed further, moving down to suck on Hiroki’s neck and then to his nipples.  
“Nowaki!” Hiroki moaned as his tongue swirled around the pink flesh and sucked fiercely. It would bruise in the morning, but Neither cared. Somehow Nowaki lost his own shirt and Hiroki’s hands bruised against his soft taught skin, he buried his head into Nowaki’s shoulder gasping and shaking with pleasure.  
“Hiro-san, I can’t hold back” Nowaki met Hiroki’s mouth again, but he pushed away holding the younger's head in his hands  
“then don’t.” Nowaki’s eye widened at his lovers boldness before pulling at his belt and removing his lovers last piece of clothing. Nowaki’s hands grasped Hiroki’s hips and pulled him into his lap. His fingers pushed against his lovers entrance, as the other man worked his member in one hand. Hiroki gasped in protest as Nowaki’s fingers left him, leaving him empty. He held onto his lovers shoulders as he positioned himself and pushed into his entrance. Hiroki gasped and gripped tight onto Nowaki, certain he would leave a mark tomorrow.  
“N-Nowaki!” he gasped as he felt his lover inside him. Nowaki waited a moment before beginning to move, slowly at first savouring the feel of his lover writhing and gasping in response to his touch. His control did not last long however, he grasped Hiroki’s member in his hand and moved faster. Hiroki was gasping uncontrollably, and shaking with pleasure as he felt himself coming closer and closer to the edge. His hands were gripping his lover as he hit that spot inside of him  
“ah!” he cried out as Nowaki abused it over and over until Hiroki could no longer hold back. He threw his head back as his climax rang through him. Nowaki’s hand released his member and grasped his lovers head pulling him into a kiss as he came into his lover. They held each other panting and gasping, neither caring that they were sweating and naked lying on the kitchen floor. Hiroki felt his eyes drift, almost too warm being held against his lovers bare chest. He breathed deeply knowing somehow that they would not share this closeness again for a long time yet.

The next day Hiroki awoke to an empty bed. He rolled onto his front and stretched out, curling his fingers around the sheets where Nowaki should have been. His mind wandered to last night and he cringed "how could I have said something so corny? I'm a stand up japanese man!" he muttered to himself. His eyes drifted to the bedside table where he spotted a folded sheet of paper just tucked underneath a panda statue holding an american flag. he picked it up and read: “called into work, they said it was an emergency. Stay safe, I love you.” Blushing but happy he placed it back down and got up heading for the shower. When he was fully dressed he stopped and put the note in his pocket before heading out the door. Nowaki may not have time to call him whilst working, but he still cared, Hiroki knew he cared.

He walked down the university halls and noticed more students than ever with masks over their mouths and noises, looking groggy and tired. He rolled his eyes and continued down the hall, too much partying and not enough studying. there had been so many absentees today that he was determined to throw something in his next lecture. As he reached his door he didn’t bother to knock, relieved to finally find a sick free zone in this school. When he opened the door however he was met with a sight that shouldn't have surprised him.

~~~

Miyagi Yoh was in a strange situation. He was completely head over heels for a man 17 years his junior. He also happened to be his ex-wife’s younger brother. This was something that he had made peace with months ago when he had been mercilessly pursued by the younger man. The problem now was something both of them should have anticipated. Shinobu was no longer staying with him and now had to keep finding fresh excuses for why he was so often visiting the professor, both inside and out of the university. Miyagi’s head felt far too heavy in his hands “ahh why is that brat always on my mind!” He cried allowed flopping back in his chair  
“Because you love me and it’s all you fault.” the professor jumped and spun around in his chair to face his expressionless lover who lent against the door frame observing the older man. Miyagi frowned and walked over to the younger man.  
“ahh Shinobu-Chin there you go saying unnecessary things again! What are you doing here anyway? Your parents will start to ask questions!” the younger man rolled his eyes  
“let them, they already ask why I come here. I really should have just picked this university, I would have gotten in and saved us all this trouble.” Miyagi gaped at the younger man  
“and wasted all your potential? You have a bright future now that you chose T-university. You don’t need an old man like me holding you back forever. Besides I’m not going to be good for you forever.” The older man settled back into his chair and returned to his work. Shinobu hadn’t moved or snapped back like he usually would have. Miyagi did not look back, determined not to show any of his worry. he only barely heard the muffled words from his lover  
“please value yourself more, Miyagi.” The older man stopped typing long enough to let Shinobu know he had heard him. He felt small arms drape over his shoulders and grasp him from behind. Shinobu wasn’t exactly shy, but something in his actions made Miyagi’s heart skip a beat.  
“Shinobu…”  
“Please don’t think of yourself as a burden! I love Miyagi! I loved you as my sisters husband, I loved you when you didn’t love me, I love you even as an old man and I will even love you when you don’t want it!” Miyagi really wanted to be able to repeat those words to his lover. He was reckless and sometimes said things without thinking, but he loved that about Shinobu in a way. he gripped the boys arm and pulled him around and into his lap. The younger man stared down at the professor wide eyed and red faced, before leaning down and joining their lips. the younger shifted, straddling the older man as he deepened the kiss. Miyagi drew circles in the skin at the base of shinobu’s spine, not daring to do anything more in the office. Shinobu had other ideas however as he ran his hands down Miyagi's arms and towards his lap. It took all of Miyagi’s strength not to take the boy right then but he forced himself to take hold of the boys hand and break the kiss  
“Shinobu, not here.” His hand was still resting just above his crotch, as if waiting for permission to enter, Miyagi was just about to give in the lust in Shinobu's eyes too much  
“what are you doing!?” Hiroki’s voice resonated throughout the office. Miyagi had a heart attack trying to jump up and explain the misunderstanding to Hiroki but he was trapped by the younger man on the chair.  
“ahh K-Kamijou this isn’t what it looks like!” he laughed nervously  
“yes it is.” Shinobu said bluntly  
“Wah, shinobu!” Miyagi cried in embarrassment “really Kamijou this is…”  
“I couldn’t care less what you do at home, but this is a place of work, please be more professional professor. The other man settled at his desk, pointedly looking away from the others. Shinobu finally released the older man who sighed and stretched his arms. Shinobu shot him a look which said “later.” as he gathered his bag from the floor. He turned and left the office. Miyagi turned back to his computer but was distracted by commotion outside. From his window he thought he saw a group of strange looking people jump a group of students. He jumped out of his seat as he saw Shinobu backing away from the scene and running back into the building.  
“Oi Miyagi what are you looking at?” Miyagi was speechless however, as the younger teacher came over to join him by the window. The students, who just moments ago had been attacked, were now struggling towards other students and attacking them back. “W-What the hell is going on down there?” Miyagi only thought of Shinobu as he darted from the room, leaving a stunned Hiroki watching the carnage from the window.

As he ran down the corridors, he heard the cries and screams of students who had either just escaped or were being attacked all around him.  
“Shinobu!” he called out, but there was no way he would be able to hear him in the commotion. He ran down towards the entrance hall. He stood on the second floor landing in horror. The stairs were completely piled up with unconscious and what looked like dead bodies. they formed a barricade between the hell below and the horror above. Beneath him there was blood staining the walls and bodies pulling themselves from the ground. Miyagi’s eyes darted around the room until they settled on a solitary figure who seemed to have clambered onto the barricade of bodies and was making his way towards the landing.  
“Shinobu!” he pushed through the small crowd of stragglers who were watching the scene below and pulled his small lover from the danger zone. Shinobu was shaking but he wrapped his arms around Miyagi as he felt himself collapse against the older man. Miyagi swept Shinobu into his arms and rushed back towards the office, praying the Hiroki had managed to lock the door. They just made it, dodging the panicked students who were running god knows where.  
“KAMIJOU OPEN UP!” it was barely one second before the door flew open to reveal not only Hiroki but the Dean and several other faculty members and students. Miyagi flew into the room and slammed the door behind him. he placed Shinobu onto the floor and turned to face the others  
“Do not let anyone else in.” Miyagi gasped. He was out of breath, his adrenaline finally running low as the reality of what he saw settled in. A guy with glasses was shaking in the corner. Another was being sick into a bin. The dean was looking blankly down at his blood soaked son, his eyes flickering to Miyagi quickly. Miyagi rose and headed towards the window. almost everyone ins sight looked like zombies; staggering around attacking and killing without sense. behind him he heard the dean ask his son  
“what are you doing here,Shinobu?”  
~~~  
The phone kept ringing out. Over and over Hiroki called Nowaki trying anything he could to get through. He was not one to lose his mind over much, but when it came to Nowaki he was so reckless. He let his mind become lost in dark thoughts: where is he? Is he safe? Is he alive? kept running on repeat through his head. he was sitting on the floor of his office his back lent against the wall. He had just failed to get through for the 16th time when he threw down his phone and put his head in his hands. Outside the sounds of screams had been replaced with guttural growls and moans, the desperate hands banging on the door for safety became claws crashing against the door for flesh. Every desk chair and bookshelf that could be moved was against the door but with every attack from outside their fragile barricade shook menacingly. He would die here. He would die here and never see Nowaki again, never eat another meal with him, never tell him he loved him. Miyagi somehow sensed his distress from across the room. He came over and settled next to him.  
“He will call.” he muttered so only Hiroki could hear. He bent forward and grabbed the phone, handing it back to Hiroki. He clutched it to his chest like a lifeline.  
“but what if he doesn’t?” the dean stirred deciding to join their conversation.  
“You should save your battery, you can call your girlfriend once we are safe.” Hiroki avoided the dean's gaze and looked down at the phone. he was on 30%, if he kept going like this he wouldn’t have enough to last the hour. He took an unsteady breath then turned off the phone.

In a hospital basement, not 2 miles from the university, Kusama Nowaki whacked a former living, now very dead patient with an IV stand. He could feel his phone vibrating in his pocket but the zombies just kept coming from everywhere. Tsumori and he were the only doctors left alive but they had no way to get out of the basement without going through a sea of walking corpses. “Nowaki behind you!” Tsumori hit another zombie. The fought their way through, up the stairs and into the foyer. Once there they rushed away from the horde and towards the Ambulance Bay. The pair bundled into the first ambulance they saw. Thankfully it was empty, Nowaki didn’t think he could handle another zombie that day. Tsumori drove them out of the hospital complex and into the street. Nowaki took out his phone. The last missed call was from only moments before. Relief washed over him knowing that Hiroki was somewhere waiting for him, safe. He dialed his number and waited. But no matter how much he called, his lover never picked up.

~~~  
Misaki browsed happily down the aisles picking out ingredients for the evening meal. He was just picking out a brand of soy sauce when he heard a shout from outside. Curious he peeked around the aisles in time to see the shopkeeper being wrestled to the ground by two corpselike people. Misaki sprung back in terror, having to listen as the man was turned into one of whatever those things was. He sat there and waited for the horror to end, but something quickly dawned on him, as the shop feel eerily quiet. Could they smell him? He began to shake as he felt the dead eyes on his back. At the other end of the aisle, three corpses stood. Misaki backed towards the door faster than he had ever moved before. He pushed against it but it wouldn’t budge. The shopkeeper had seen those things coming and locked them in! the only other way out was a shattered glass window which looked lethal from here. He kicked the door, the corpses moved closer, he kicked it again, they were almost on him. He spun around and grasped the closest thing to him, a wooden bear carving, and through it at the glass door. It smashed just enough for him to jump through. He landed out of reach of the corpses, but into a bed of broken glass. Something pierced his side he cried out in pain. his vision blurred as he gasped in pain. it was hopeless after all he thought as he stood shakily clutching his wound and backing away into the road. His cry had brought corpses flocking to him. He tripped over his foot and fell to the ground as the zombies loomed over him. “Usagi-san, I won’t be home for dinner…” he muttered as he closed his eyes and waited for the end. But it never came. he heard the screeching of tires and the rain of gunfire before he felt himself being bundled into a car and driven away from the zombies. for a moment he was too stunned to think. Then he came to his senses and looked into the car filled with only vaguely familiar faces. His heart was racing, but it stopped dead when he saw the driver. His jaw dropped and he sprung away instinctively “USAGI-ANI?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay so since i've been uploading this for over a year now (because I'm crappy) I just wanted to put in a low-key disclaimer:  
> I used to use notes on my phone to write this story so there are a lot of typos and things that I never noticed, and although i am constantly going back and editing them out, I'm still sorry for those!
> 
> Secondly, my writing is a bit not great in the early chapters and I want to rewrite some of them, but I just don't have the time. Trust me it gets better later on :') thank you for reading!


	2. Alone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> second part! as usual I literally haven't even checked this but I like it so whoo! Sorry its been a while! :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please tell me what you think! any suggestions leave them below!! thank you! xx

Had misaki takahashi been a weaker person the multiple shocks of that day may have been enough to end him. But it was by using blind will power that he didn't pass out in Haruhiko Usami's car. They were speeding down the road turning violently, making misaki flop in his seat like a rag doll  
"U-usagi-ani please slow down" Haruhiko did not take his eyes off the road but the shorter man was relieved to feel the speed drop slightly. The lack of movement had a major disadvantage however; he could see outside the car.  
He could not believe the amount of devastation that had occurred in the hour since he had left Usagi. No one was left alive, save from himself and the inhabitants of the car. The dead stood and stumbled around them; many meandering aimlessly, others eating...something in large groups. He ignored the blood and the bodies which we're pulling themselves from the ground and focused instead on a building they were passing.  
"STOP!! Please stop the car!" Haruhiko gripped the wheel tighter and grit his teeth  
"We can't. Not even here, there is no time."  
"B-but I'd you don't stop there's no chance I'll-"  
"Misaki! No. Really look at that place and if you can tell me that it's safe we will stop." Misaki turned, and saw reluctantly that Haruhiko had been right: the windows were smashed zombies were swarming every entrance. As they drove away from Marukawa publishing Misaki lost all hope that he would ever see Usagi-San again. He felt a hand on his shoulder and only then did he register that he was not alone in the car. He turned to see the face of Kaoruko looking at him pitifully. "Come back with us Misaki, we'll help you." He felt tears sting his eyes as he pulled himself away from her and leant his head against the shaking glass. He felt his eyes drift closed and for a moment let himself forget the world around him.

~~~

No one spoke in the office. Shinobu had distanced himself from Miyagi, he and Hiroki were sitting together each silently comforting the other in their minds. The younger professor had given his jacket to a bleeding student and now sat there looking shaken. Both were alone: Hiroki feared for his lovers life and Miyagi was so close to his own, but could not be near him. It was pain like neither had felt before. The Dean suddenly stood, surprising the still room.  
"We can't stay here forever." Miyagi saw the fearful expression that crossed his lovers face. He was scared. The professor stood and moved to the window  
"What do you suggest we do sir? As you can see we are few in number and almost surrounded." The dean joined Miyagi by the window. He looked lost for a moment before turning and address in the room once more  
"we will take what we can; chair legs paperweights anything and we will fight our way out. I said I have friends not far from here he will help us if only we get to them."  
"Dad that won't work!" Miyagi turned his attention to his frowning lover "if we do this then some of us could die!" At his last words the teenagers eyes flicked towards Miyagi I'm panic. The professor almost moved to comfort Shinobu but the dean, misunderstanding his son, beat him to it  
"Shinobu don't worry, I'll be fine and so will you." He pulled his son into a hug but Shinobu's eyes were focused on Miyagi's.

The commotion in the room as the 15 or so inhabitants went around smashing and looking for makeshift weapons was enough to allow Shinobu to get close to each other. The younger had picked up a chair and taken it behind a bookcase out of view from the others, all the while signalling to Miyagi to join him. As they feigned breaking the chair they slipped out of sight and into each other's arms  
"M-Miyagi!" The younger whispered, in a shaking voice  
"Shh, Shinobu, we don't have a lot of time." Miyagi quickly checked around them before pulling the younger in for a kiss. Their lips met frantically, their kisses stained with salt and blood from fresh tears and old wounds. They pulled themselves apart reluctantly, Shinobu gripping to the older man as long as possible. They set about breaking the chair but it was stubborn and would not come apart easily. They finally managed to pull off one metal leg with a sigh of relief.  
"Miyagi you use that."  
"Then what are you going to use?" Shinobu looked around before settling for a long thick scroll which was the perfect weight to crush some skulls. Miyagi protested however  
"What?"  
"You can't use that"  
"Why?"  
"... It's Bashou"  
"You are a stupid old man."

Chaos could not have described the scene beyond the door. There were bodies littered around the hallway in various stages of reanimation: Hiroki recognised so many of his students and colleagues, some dragging their legless torsos across the floor others slowly climbing to their feet. He clutched the book tightly in his hand. Despite the presence of the undead, they were still relatively unharmed. The dean led them towards the southern stairwell, knowing that it should have been relatively empty, but when they arrived they found a horde of zombies metres from them. Everyone scrambled: if they turned back they would have nowhere to go. Hiroki knew the only way out was through this stairwell. Everyone sprang into action as the dead advanced. A tall student with glasses expertly decapitated his undead economics teacher with a coat stand, whilst Hiroki hit his students with books. They were slowly, but surely, carving their way through. Miyagi was bringing up the rear, protecting the stragglers. Shinobu was by his father, but every other moment his eyes darted frantically towards his older lover. They were almost there, Hiroki was the first to reach the bottom, along with the dean and a few students. Of about 15 there were still at least 9 of them. Outside he saw the empty parking lot and felt relief spread through his chest. Miyagi and Shinobu were together now, making their way down the stairs picking their way through the bodies.  
"We'll go through here. My car is outside." Someone kicked the door open. That was a mistake. Outside the coast was not clear. Hundreds of students and staff were stumbling just out of sight of the window. The car was in view but the dead had smelt them and seen them and heard them by now. There was no way of stopping this many.  
"Run! To the car" everyone sprinted, Hiroki just ahead of the others, Shinobu and Miyagi at the back of the pack. They were coming closer and Miyagi sprang into action as one tried to grab Shinobu.  
"Keep running!"  
"Not without you!"  
"I'm right behind you I promise!" Reluctantly Shinobu began to move away as Miyagi hit away the dead. The others had reached the car. Hiroki was hyperventilating in the front seat whilst the student, who he now recognised as Sumi Keiichi sat behind the wheel. The dean hang out of the side of the car pulling in the survivors. Shinobu trusted that Miyagi was behind him as he ran. It was only when he turned around that he saw how far back the man was.  
"MIYAGI!" Shinobu stopped as took a step towards his lover  
"Shinobu what are you doing come here!" The dean called out, jumping from the car and grabbing his son.  
"NO!! Miyagi is still out there we have to help him!" The dean looked, he could make it. But he had to prioritise, his son came first.  
"No he won't make it, we have to go now!" Shinobu' eyes widened in panic. He would not leave Miyagi.  
"No! NO! Miyagi!"he screamed as his father pulled him towards the car. Miyagi looked over to the group at the sound of his lovers screams. Shinobu cried out, struggling against his father. It looked as though Miyagi would follow, but he didn't have a chance before Shinobu was hauled into the car and driven away from the carnage.

~~~  
Nowaki had barely stopped the car by the teachers entrance of the University before he was rushing out at top speed. Tsumori would wait in the car and be ready to drive at a moments notice and Nowaki would enter the building and not leave again until Hiroki was by his side. He was surprised by the lack of undead in this area, that is3 until he climbed the fire escape and pushed his way into the first floor landing. Here there stood a magnificent window which gave a sweeping view of the grounds and the beautiful woods just beyond them. Only today it was more like a nightmare. The undead had clearly all swarmed around something in the courtyard not long ago and the majority of them were still milling around waiting for fresh flesh. He suddenly felt a desire to move on from the window. He had brought a bone saw with him this time, which he hoped would be more effective at protecting him and Hiroki on the way out, but even deeper into the University the place had fallen eerily quiet. After what felt like an age Nowaki found himself in the literature department but his path was blocked . A group of undead were pulling something between them, like animals after pray. He was ready to turn but they must have smelt him. For a moment he thought they would finish their meal, but then the moved towards him. One came up fast but he split her head in two. The next two he was able to kick down the stairs that he had just exited. The last had no legs to move at him with. He approached the corpse and stood over it for a moment before crushing its head with his foot. He huffed and felt his head flop in his hands, he had to do this, for Hiro-san. He walked towards where the zombies had been and froze. There was half a corpse on the floor. A corpse wearing the shredded remains of one of Hiroki’s jackets. He began to shake all over, rage and anger beginning to burn inside of him in a way he had never felt before. He refused to believe it, he bent down reluctantly pulling himself from his trance and turned the body over. he felt in the pockets until he came across a wallet. his hands shook as he pulled out the I.D card. It wasn’t Hiroki. Nowaki collapsed against the wall and felt relief flood through him. Hiroki could still be alive. He could still be in the literature office. With this thought he pulled himself up and placed a hand on the door. He stilled for a moment. So much of their relationship had been established in this hallway, in this very office. Behind this door could be the perfect symmetrical ending to their love. Nowaki had brought his phone with him and he knew the Tsumori’s was on as well. He had already told himself that if Hiroki lay dying in there then he would die with him, whether from eventual starvation or an actual bite he would never have left his lovers side. If his lover lay not ten feet from him now and he could make it out, then where would they go? Hiroki’s family had a large mansion with grounds and forest around it. Although he had never been there he knew that would have been their next stop. He took a deep breath and opened the door. Other than a lot of shattered furniture and overturned tables, the room was void of any bodies or blood. Nowaki was relieved. He knew that if Hiroki had died here he would have known by now. But this room appeared more or less empty. He turned to leave but found his way blocked by a familiar figure.  
“Y-you?!” Nowaki was stunned at the sight of Miyagi Yoh in the doorway, looking murderous and drenched in blood. Looking back Nowaki must have looked pretty bloody too, but both men were too shocked at the sight of another, living human.  
“I-I could say the same-”  
“Where is Hiro-san?” Nowaki spoke before the older man had finished. At the mention of his lover he seemed to come out of his angered trance, he shook his head and slumped against the door frame  
“Gone. so is Shinobu.”  
“Gone? What do you mean, dead?!” the older man pulled himself inside and shut the door. The anger was now fear as the older man took a heavy breath and spoke again  
“we were all in here-” he gestured around the room “and we managed to escape after a while into the car park, where the dean’s car was. I got separated. Shinobu and Kamijou got into the car. The dean said he was going to a friends house.”  
“Why did they not wait for you?” Nowaki was surprised at his own question but the older man seemed to have been thinking about it too  
“I think Dean Takatsuki, he is Shinobu’s father you see, may have known about us. I mean he probably wasn't even aware that he knew, but I think he subconsciously wanted to keep us apart.” Nowaki had slumped now too. They should have been gone by now, to the ambulance, but neither man could bring themselves to move. had this been six months ago and not a zombie apocalypse, the two men may have been staring daggers at each other for even mentioning their relationships. But this time neither thought about the other. Both men's minds were on their lovers. Miyagi spoke first  
“I know you haven’t seen for yourself, so you’ll never believe when I tell you that Kamijou is not hurt. He was first in that van. It was probably the fact that you weren’t there that made him so determined to get himself where you may be. Me and Shinobu you see… we were in the same room, but we could barely even talk to each other. I always considered blurting it out then, but if i had I’m sure the Dean would have thrown me out to the zombies.” He laughed emptily “there are two kinds of separation, mental and physical and now we’re experts in both.” Nowaki suddenly felt a rush of respect for the man before him, which surprised him to no end. they may have been apart but at least Nowaki knew that at their next meeting he would be able to greet his lover openly. When Miyagi and Shinobu were finally reunited, who’s to say they wouldn’t be forced apart even further than before? Nowaki stood and gestured for Miyagi to do the same.  
“We have a car, come with us and we’ll find them together.” the man grimaced and stood  
“just promise not to punch me in the throat and I’ll come with.”

~~~

The steady braking of the car woke Misaki with a start. He was looking up at the Usami family mansion. His heart skipped slightly, only just allowing himself to hope that Usagi-san was waiting for him inside. He heard the doors around him slam shut and realised the had gone into one of his trances. He shook his head and made to get out of the car but was alarmed when his door was pulled open for him.  
“come on.” Haruhiko spoke flatly. Somehow, even in the midst of a zombie apocalypse, the man had stayed exactly the same. He looked up at the older man with wide eyes. He had always thought that the two brothers had never looked particularly alike. However in this light, Misaki was struck by Haruhiko’s likeness to Usagi. if not so much in face, but instead in stature and expression. He looked now, just as Usagi-san did so often, as though he was constantly thinking over a riddle in his mind. His eyes were looking out over to the left, his mouth turned into a slight frown. Haruhiko must have felt the younger man looking at him, and looked down to the youngers eyes  
“Misaki, we have to go inside now.” That look did it. tears began to fill his eyes and he felt his entire body shaking. Usagi was gone. Misaki was in his home, but he would never see him there again. They would never eat their meals together, never go on research dates together, never make love...Misaki sobbed at that last thought. How many times had he told the older man he loved him? Once, twice? how could he not have treasured that man? considering everything they had had four good years, but they deserved so many more. They were going to tell his brother and live together and maybe, his heart slowed and his eyes widened. In his minds eye now there played a little scene, the same thing over and over but it was just so perfect. He was standing behind the stove cooking something and Usagi was typing on the sofa. It was just like a normal morning, except now there were others too, tiny little bodies jumping around the room; little boys and girls with Usagi’s hair and his eyes or the other way around just running up to him and demanding to taste the food or jumping onto Suzuki. Then Misaki would call them to the table and they would all eat together a little Usami family. But here he was, in Haruhiko’s car, mourning over the man he knew he loved. He almost had a heart attack when he felt large hands pull him from his seat and walk him towards the side of the house.  
“o-oi Usagi-ani, where are we going!? Let me go!” Haruhiko obliged and turned towards Misaki.  
“Misaki stop this. You’re alive so please don’t give up yet.”  
“But I’m alone. I can’t do this alone. Not now that I know what love feels like. I could never go on without it again. I should just walk out and let them kill me.” Misaki spoke solemnly. Usagi-ani came closer and took Misaki’s chin in his hand  
“look at me Misaki, even if you don’t love me your safety is my number one priority and it always has been. So please do not say things like that because if you throw yourself into the horde I will have to come and dig you out again. Go inside and sleep and I promise that we can go and look for Akihiko together tomorrow.” Misaki responded quietly  
“...and if we don’t find him then?”  
“then the next day.” Misaki nodded. He was not entirely convinced by this, but it was his only chance. he would be strong and he would look into every building in Japan if he had to, to find even a trace of Usagi-San.


	3. Changes of heart

As it happened Haruhiko half kept his promise. After their conversation in the garden, he told Kaoruko and Mizuki their plans. Both decided to accompany them and both decided that Misaki needed a crash course in self defence. It was this excuse that got them away from the other survivors who had all taken residence in the Usami family home. The notable absence from the house was Usagi-chichi, who Misaki had had had the pleasure of avoiding the day before. Misaki did not want to face him, not the man who had trusted him with his sons life. He sighed, staring at the grass beneath his feet. He felt something soft smack the back of his head  
"Misaki pay attention! You won't survive out there unless you know how to use this!" Misaki suddenly remembered what he was doing as she gestured to the handgun in her hand.  
"Ah sorry Kaoruko-san! I'm ready to learn!" He forced some enthusiasm into his voice and tried to look interested. She eyed him suspiciously but instead turned back to the target and continued  
"...then you just relax and pull the trigger." She shot, her bullet piercing the target dead centre. She looked over at him expectantly and Misaki looked down at the gun in his hands. Could he really kill someone? He was shaking as he lifted the gun. Misaki tried to relax but he kept seeing the faces of random people he knew: friends, coworkers and family. Would he have to kill them? He shook his head and focused. The less zombies there were the safer Usagi-San would be. The more he killed the more chance Usagi-san would live. He released his breath and pulled the trigger. It hit just above the target but he felt a little pride swell through him.  
"Well done Misaki!" He heard Kaoruko exclaim "I can't believe you're this good on your first try!" Misaki smiled at her bash fully unsure of whether to be happy or not that he was a good shot. He heard a scoff behind him and turned around. Throughout this entire lesson. Mizuki and Haruhiko had been watching from the sidelines. The former of the two had turned his nose up at Misaki  
"That's not bad, but remember that inch away from the bullseye could mean the difference between life and death. How can you expect to save Akihiko if you make a half hearted effort now?" Misaki's fade burned with embarrassment. How could he have been proud of such a lousy shot? He turned back to Kaoruko   
"Please show me the technique again!" The girl looked at him quizzically, her eyes darting between him and Mizuki. If she wanted to counter what Mizuki said she decided not to say anything. In Misaki's mind this meant that she thought the same as Mizuki, that he wasn't ready yet. He raised the gun once more and pulled the trigger.

Hiroki and Shinobu found some sort of common ground in that car. Shinobu's sobs had long since ended. Instead the teenager was staring daggers at the back of his fathers oblivious head. Hiroki could tell exactly what he was thinking. He was certain that everyone in the car could see that Miyagi could have made it. As far as Hiroki knew the dean had no knowledge of his sons relationship, let alone him being gay. Somehow he also could tell the dean was not going to be the most open minded type regarding his sons relationship. The older man sighed and looked out of the window. They had long since left the city centre and were headed out into suburban Tokyo. He sat up suddenly.  
"Dean Takatsuki, who is your family friend?" The dean looked over eyebrows raised  
"Usami Fuyuhiko." Hiroki gaped at him. He had expected them to be leaving Tokyo for good, but they were moments away from the city and not only that, they were in a place that Nowaki knew. He let himself sigh in relief. Nowaki could find him here. He went to turn on his phone before seeing the 'please charge' notice pop up on the screen. That feeling of dread returned. Even if he told Nowaki where he was, there was no guarantee he was even alive.  
"We're here." The dean called from the front. Sure enough here at the Usami mansion, it looked as though the zombie apocalypse had not even begun.

Misaki was walking down a corridor of the house when he saw a door slightly ajar. He hadn't meant to notice the photo of a silver haired boy through the crack in the door, but he had. He knocked but the room was empty and cold. He slowly entered the room. It looked like it had once been a bedroom, but not for any adult. The bed was small and, although clean, had not been slept in for years. Misaki looked back to the desk facing the window where the photograph was placed. There were two people in the frame; a boy with short brown hair and a young Usami Akihiko. Misaki picked up the photo. He must have been nine or ten years old. Both boys were wearing little yukata's and neither were smiling, the boy on the left actually looked like he was about to cry.  
"It must have been taken at a festival..." He said aloud to himself.  
"Hanabi-Matsuri actually, 20 years ago." Misaki jumped out of his skin, almost dropping the photograph. He spun around to see Usami Fuyuhiko standing in the doorway. He smiled and joined Misaki by the desk  
"I see you found Akihiko's old room."   
"I-I'm sorry for snooping I'll be going now!"  
"Don't." Fuyuhiko put his hand on Misaki's shoulder to stop him "you and Akihiko are in a relationship, it is natural to want to know more about him especially seeing as you weren't even born when this photo was taken." Misaki felt a tiny stab in his heart, this was exactly like Usagi-chichi, he thought, reminding him of the fact that he wasn't good enough for Akihiko. Fuyuhiko smiled again  
"When I heard you had arrived I was glad because I thought we would be able to talk about bear wood carvings together..."  
"W-we still can if you li-"  
"But then I found out that you hadn't come here with my son." Misaki suddenly went cold. Fuyuhiko was no longer smiling, he was completely blank and it scared Misaki.  
"I'm sorry-"  
"It seems the younger generation of my family is quite taken with you, even when I sent Mizuki to test you you made him think you were good for Akihiko. You have let me down Takahashi-kun." Misaki could hear it coming. This was the end if the line, Fuyuhiko was going to send him away. He deserved it really, Misaki knew, but he at least had to defend himself.  
"You have to know that I-"  
"Fuyuhiko-sama!" The pair turned to face the door, Tanaka stood there breathless "a group of survivors have arrived, it is the Takatsuki family."

"Thank you for taking us in Fuyuhiko, I knew I could count on you here." Shinobu heard his father say from next to a dark haired older man, who smiled and said it was his pleasure. He looked around with a frown, displeased at the distinct absence of Miyagi. Hiroki had broken off to speak with Haruhiko and the other survivors were either eagerly greeting friends or crying to themselves. Overall Shinobu hated everything about this place. He needed to be out there saving Miyagi. A short boy with large green eyes and short brown hair came out of the house. Shinobu had to do a double take. He knew that guy... But how? Suddenly it clicked and he rushed over to him  
"Are you a student at Mitsuhashi?!" Shinobu asked eagerly. The other man blinked a hint of recognition dawning his features  
"You... You're the dean's son! I've seen you in the literary office!" Shinobu nodded  
"I'm Takatsuki Shinobu"  
"Misaki Takahashi, I would say it's nice to meet you but... Well" he gestured around sheepishly  
"I get it. You know we've met before? In the literary office?" Misaki looked confused for a moment before burning scarlet. He remembered how they met, how could he forget?

Misaki was walking towards the literary office in a haze of disappointment, he had just flunked his last test. He had studied but a certain man-child had made sure that he got no sleep at all the night before.  
"Baka Usagi, I'll choke him with green peppers, see how he likes being messed with..." he muttered to himself too absorbed with his own woes to remember to knock.  
"Ahh!" Someone moaned. Misaki was suddenly brought out of his trance. Professor Miyagi was in the middle of a make out session with a teen wearing nothing but a button down perched on his desk. They had both whipped around at his entrance. In an instant Miyagi buttoned his shirt and strode over to Misaki. The teen on the desk simply crossed his legs and watched his lover curiously. The professor loomed over Misaki  
"Tell anyone what you saw here and I will guarantee that you will flunk every class you take and I will throw you out of this university with my own two hands." Misaki backed out into the corridor, his eyes flickered to the boy behind him, he looked almost bored watching the pair. Miyagi slammed the door before Misaki could say a word. For a moment he was frozen by the door during which time he heard  
"You're sexy when you're angry" And  
"Don't be a brat" before deciding to run away and never come back. As it happened he never was able to talk to Proffessor Kamijou about that test.

In the distance the dean and Fuyuhiko entered the mansion talking animatedly. Shinobu felt himself relax as a breath left his body. Misaki looked at him then to where the dean had been.  
"I don't mean to be forward... But, um, you don't seem to-"  
"Get on with my father? No I don't, especially not since-" he sopped himself feeling his face flush. He couldn't even say his lovers name. Misaki seemed to understand and didn't ask about it anymore.  
" how many did you bring with you?"  
"Maybe nine, but there should have been more. How did you get here?" He saw the boy tense but didn't say anything, he suddenly felt as though this was someone who not only understood what he was going through but was experiencing it himself.

An older man with brown hair approached the pair, he turned automatically to Shinobu  
"How are you feeling?" The younger boy glared at the man  
"How do you think?" The man looked at Misaki watching the scene  
"Takahashi-kun?"  
"Professor kamijou! what are you doing here?"  
The man frowned at him  
"I came with the Mitsuhashi Survivors. Have you seen Akihiko I need to ask him something."  
"Well we weren't together when i was rescued."  
"But you're Akihiko's lover aren't you." Misaki burned bright red and began stuttering "ah no- you see, yes! But-"   
"Forget it kid, I'll ask Haruhiko later." Shinobu had been listening to their conversation without showing any hint of emotion, so when he asked the question to Misaki, "are you in a relationship with an older lover who has been separated from you and by any chance is that the son of the owner of this house?" he could hardly believe his ears.  
"How do you know all that?!"  
"Well I picked up bits and I'd heard my father mention and Usami Akihiko before so I guessed." Misaki gulped  
"That's...pretty much it"  
" then were all the same." Misaki blushed remembering Professor Miyagi and Shinobu together.  
"How are we all the same?" Hiroki interrupted frowning "Don't just lump me together with brats like you!" Shinobu shook his head  
"Just listen, our lovers are all out there looking for us! We should be trying to find them!"  
"Usagi-ani is going to help me look for Usagi-San. Maybe if we all went out together we could find them quicker?" Shinobu nodded  
"And then we'll-"  
"Stop." The two younger men were interrupted by Hiroki's voice "just, stop it. There is no guarantee that any of them are alive. I should be the one to break it to you, our lovers are most likely dead." Hiroki felt his eyes burn just saying it aloud but he carried on refusing to let his tears fall "if you go out there looking you're only going to die quicker, and then way would have been the point of making it this far?" The other to did not look convinced. Misaki was hurt by the idea of staying behind whilst Usagi-San was out alone and although what Hiroki said held some truth, he couldn't just give up. For Shinobu there was noting in hell or on earth that would stop him going to Miyagi's rescue. Both had taken only one thing from Hiroki's outburst, as despite his words his true feelings were written all over his face; he was just as scared as they were of losing their loved one only he had no faith in himself. Misaki stepped closer to his professor  
"But if we don't look who will?" Misaki said quietly.  
"And if we're dying in this apocalypse then I'm dying looking for Miyagi." The older mans eye were red but the tears still would not fall. He turned away from the pair and walked back into the house. Misaki watched him leave surprised at the relief of finding people who were just as conflicted as he was.

Hiroki found himself in a room with his phone plugged in to charge. It was small and empty of all people but himself. He sat leaning his head agains the long window. This wasn't his first time in the room, this had been where he used to watch Akihiko write his stories when he was younger. The hours he spent just watching the other boy felt so long ago. Now this room had a different purpose. He heard his phone beep into life and picked it up. He had been thinking about what those boys had said. Did he lack faith? Why did what they said spud exactly like why he had been thinking to himself already? How was it he had found comfort in their situations so like his own. He was scared however to unlock his phone. If he did this then he would be allowing himself that one glimmer of hope, that possibility that maybe Nowaki was alive and looking for him. And if he wasn't out there? What if he was dead already? Hiroki shook his head and looked agonisingly at the phone. He had to decide; let himself hope or leave his love behind?

Nowaki had driven out into the rich neighbourhoods around Tokyo. He could just about remember the route to Hiroki's family home, but with everything that was happening he found himself becoming more and more lost. Miyagi had left Nowaki and Tsumori to sit in the front together, whilst he sat in the main body of the ambulance writing down a lost of supplies they had. Nowaki gripped the wheel tighter. He should have been able to think like that. The man had just seen his lover torn away from him but he was still thing rationally. Nowaki in the other hand was falling apart not knowing where Hiroki was. Tsumori offered to take over, sensing his distress, but Nowaki refused. He had to keep busy. The men were driving through what looked like a forest in the middle of the city when Nowaki heard a faint buzz from the dashboard. Alert he ripped the phone from the dashboard and scanned the screen:

Nowaki, I'm at the Usami mansion, north Roppongi. I'm waiting for you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is anyone interested in a Junjo Romantica and Sekaiichi hatsukoi cross over? I'm thinking of introducing the characters in a few chapters time so let me know!
> 
> If you're wondering why there is a lack of Usagi in the story then you're going to have to wait a couple of chapters to find out what's going down! Until then enjoy


	4. Growing Strong

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not really happy with this chapter but I could't fix it no matter what :/ I promise the next one will be bette rand longer.

Misaki felt, like he always seemed to since the Zombie apocalypse began, guilty . Since his conversation with his former literature professor not more than an hour ago, Misaki felt kind of terrible. It didn’t help that the man had not reemerged from the house since their conversation, which worried Misaki even more leading to him feeling more guilty. Shinobu had reassured him that they said the right things, but Misaki’s conscience was not entirely clear. He had turned down Kaoruko’s offering of company and stalked off in an unknown direction, towards the woods at the back of the mansion.

Misaki lay down on the soft grass and heaved a sigh of fresh earthy air. Here it felt as though nothing had changed, like he could open his eyes and Usagi-san would be there. his eyes found patterns in the midday clouds, a panda, marimo, a little suzuki-san… Everything on his mind was Usagi-san. “this must be what it’s like…” he thought to himself “to lose someone.” He stretched his hand out in front of him and stared at the sunlight streaming through his fingers. on the third finger of his right hand the sun glinted even brighter. He studied the ring that was placed there, remembering how he got it like it was yesterday.

it wasn’t even special day up until then. Misaki had just finished his work part time at Marukawa and coincidentally bumped in to Usagi on his way out.  
“Ah Usagi-san, what are you doing here so late?” Akihito walked with Misaki in to the lift.  
“Delivering a manuscript…Aikawa was on my back all day.” Misaki rolled his eyes  
“Do your work on time, baka!” suddenly a familiar redheaded women came running full pelt down the corridor  
“USAMI-SENSEI! THE MANUSCRIPT ISN’T FINISHED-!” Usagi calmly pressed the ‘doors close’ button  
“U-Usagi-San! What the hell is wrong with you?!” the doors pinged open at the ground floor. Usagi did not respond but simply walked out of the lift expecting Misaki to follow. Sighing, the younger man followed his silver haired lover out in to the bitter winter breeze. When he left the house that morning the cold had been bearable, but being forced to work late meant that he had to bare the freezing cold a little longer than he would like.They were a block or so from the publishing house when  
“Achoo!” Misaki sneezed feeling the heat rash to his cheeks. He pulled his scarf tighter around him.  
“Misaki? Are you okay?” Usagi came over to Misaki and put his forehead against his.  
“U-Usagi-San!” the older man rolled his eyes and straightened up  
“I was just checking your temperature. I think you have a cold coming.” He looked over his shoulder. They were standing in the middle of a deserted pavement lined with streetlamps. On one side stood a large park and on the other was a row of houses and shops. It would normally have been very busy, but tonight in the freezing cold, it was as though they were the only two souls on earth. Usagi sighed  
“I’ll go and get the car, it’s not far now but I’ll be quicker on my own. Here-“ He unwrapped his thick woollen scarf and wrapped it around Misaki’s neck until he had almost disappeared beneath it. “I’ll be right back”

Misaki watched him fade out of view. He held his hands inside the scarf and buried his head deep into it. He could feel Usagi’s lingering heat and he could smell his lover on the scarf. His heart suddenly skipped a beat. Misaki shook his head feeling himself flush  
“what am I doing? Missing heartbeats! What is this, a shoujo manga?” he settled back in to the scarfs warmth despite himself and closed his eyes for a moment. Suddenly he felt tiny drops of cold being to hit his back. Startled, he looked up at the night sky. Snow was falling lightly all around him. He had seen snow before, when in Hokkaido and in winter a lot, but never like this; it wasn’t busy or crowded or anything like that, this was peaceful. He lifted his hands from his pockets and held them up in front of him. Little snowflakes melted in his palms as they fell. He barely even noticed Usagi pull up in his sports car. When the older man emerged he said nothing at first, simply staying silent and watching his lover in awe of the snow. Misaki slowly turned around to face Usagi. He beamed at the silver haired man  
“Usagi-san! Snow!” he said excitedly, turning back to the sky and stretching his palms up higher to catch the falling snowdrops. Akihiko watched him from the side of the pavement. Misaki smiled wider when he saw it settling on the ground beneath his feet, he moved around chasing the snow slowly and feeling it melt in his hands.  
“Marry me.” Misaki suddenly froze, his back facing Usagi. Had he heard that right? What had Usagi just said? He turned around slowly, lowering his hands.  
“Sorry Usagi-san, I think I misheard you then-“ Usagi closed the distance between them  
“Marry me, Misaki.” Misaki flushed an even deeper shade of pink.  
“w-we can’t, in Japan…” Misaki said at a loss for words. Usagi shook his head  
“We’ll go to America, or England. Somewhere where it’s legal. That isn't important right now.” Usagi’s face betrayed no hint of concern or anxiety but something in his voice let Misaki know that this was the most nerve wracking thing he had ever done. “Just marry me, Misaki.” He stared up at his older lover, the cold all but forgotten. Slowly, hands shaking, he moved closer to Usagi and reached up to him. Usagi folded him perfectly into his arms as their lips met. Misaki knew he was the one in control, despite his calm exterior, Usagi was anxious now. Misaki’s tongue bravely parted Usagi’s lips, taking the chance to explore his lovers mouth, he felt Usagi hold him tighter. He was still shaking when pulled away, slowly creating a little more distance between them.  
“I will marry you.”

Usually that memory would have made Misaki burn with embarrassment, or accuse Usagi of taking advantage of his weakened state, but now Misaki knew that was one of the best days of his life. Nothing really compares to being in love; this was something Misaki realised only after he had already lost it.  
“You know this whole moping around thing is getting old.” Misaki shot up. Mizuki was leaning against a tree looking at him distastefully. “I know you;re sad and everything, but really you could be using this time to make a difference but you’re just sitting around crying.”  
“Im not-“ he was about to say, but he felt the slight dampness on his cheeks betray him. Muzuki shifted, standing directly in front of Misaki and raised a gun at his head. He shot. For a moment Misaki thought it was over. He flinched, but no pain came.  
“That bullet was exactly one centimetre away from killing you. I can teach you to do that, but only if you quit this feeling sorry for yourself crap. Own up to reality.” Misaki stared at Mizuki. It may have been dressed up like an attempt to kill him and a lot of insults, but Mizuki was actually offering to help him.  
“Okay. Help me, please.” Mizuki grinned  
“Great let’s start right now, survival 101: how to kill a zombie.”

“We’re leaving right now.” Misaki’s eyes widened. Haruhiko had found them practicing with the gun in the woods. Now they were milling around the front of the mansion along with Kaoruko and Shinobu both of whom were clutching weapons of their own. “Why? Not that I don’t want to go, but it’s a little sudden!” Haruhiko handed Misaki a small hand gun and a baseball bat.  
“We’re running out of water, and that’s not a good sign. We have maybe 2 weeks worth left, and with more people arriving everyday, there is no guarantee it’ll last that long.”  
“Are we going to look for your brother?” Haruhiko’s eye narrowed slightly at his mention, old habits die hard, Misaki thought, the older man nodded his head in agreement  
“It seems like a logical plan. Just remember that this is mainly a supply mission.” Haruhiko motioned that he join the others. Misaki gulped. He really was trying to leave behind the self-pity thing, but he was scared of what he would find out there. Who was alive and what, if anything, was left of Japan?

In the two days that they had been staying at the Usami mansion, the world beyond the front gates had fallen apart. They left the ground in the same car that Shinobu had arrived in the day before, a large black land rover. The only had to turn out of the neighbourhood and towards the city to see the extent of the damage. Everything was on fire and no one was alive. It started at the petrol station on the outskirts of town. Shinobu could see the signs of a fight that had turned heated. The fire spread from there and inched towards the road, where stationary cars waiting to leave the city were waiting, bombs ready to explode. the only signs of movement other than the slowly dying fire on the road, were the charred and melted zombies staggering through the wreckage. Shinobu could barely bring himself to look at them. In his eyes they all had Miyagi’s face. Although he knew they were not going near the university, he kept silently hoping that he would just be there: around a corner, in a car, with more survivors. He would never be like Misaki, so physically burdened by his loss. He had cried it all out in the car, but now he was determined. He would save Miyagi. He knew that Misaki would grow strong, but Shinobu was strong enough already. He had fought for his lover before, when all odds were against him, and won. He could do it again.  
“There, Haruhiko-nii-san!” Mizuki pointed out the window to a large warehouse like building.  
“Costco? You don’t think everyone will have gone there first?”  
“That’s possible, but look this area is populated by mainly students. The attack happened during the school day, so most of these homes will have been empty. It too far otherwise for anyone to make this a first stop.” Haruhiko seemed convinced and pulled towards the building.

it was eerily quiet inside the building. Just as Mizuki had said there were still plenty of supplies to be had; they split up, Shinobu heading towards the back of the shop along with Kaoruko and the others taking the middle and front. The building itself was a large high ceilinged warehouse, filled with piles and shelves of food and other things. Eventually the voices of the others dulled to muffled footsteps and hums in the background. It would take a shout or cry to reach them. Shinobu held his gun tightly. He had shot before, thanks to his fathers interest in hunting, but he was not the best. Kaoruko seemed to read the tense look on his face  
“You only need to stop them, don’t worry if you can’t shoot to kill. Just lift and fire.” He nodded. The pair reached the back wall of the shop. “I’ll go left, look for blankets and maybe some coal. On the left it looks like fresh produce and meat, but see if there’s anything worth saving.” Shinobu nodded.

Kaoruko had been right, around the corner was a fruit and vegetables section. He wasn’t sure how long any of this would last, but he found some potatoes and apples in large sacs which looked pretty durable. He tried to lift one but found it far too heavy just for him. In the corner of the room he spotted a sign which read “Trolleys”. IT pointed him in the direction of the raw meat and dairy section. He heard some footsteps coming from just around the corner. Shinbone was about to call out when he heard another noise: the rip of tearing flesh. He froze, knowing what was only metres to his left. He could hear more than one, more than two. He gulped and suddenly the noises ceased. They knew he was there.

Misaki was regrouping with Haruhiko and Mizuki at the front of the store when they heard it. There heads whipped around. Shinobu flew from around the corner, running so fast his feet barely touched the ground. For a moment they were bewildered, but then they saw it too. A wave of at least thirty zombies cascaded around the corner. The collided, momentum carrying them in a large tangled mass of oozing and bleeding flesh, but somehow they raced forward with an impossible speed.  
“RUN!” Shinobu shouted, but the others didn’t need telling twice. They were already moving full pelt towards the door. Shinobu was closing the distance between them, but not fast enough. He could almost feel the heat of their breaths on his neck. He dared not look back, but he knew he wasn’t running fast enough. Suddenly he felt his arm being grabbed and whipped up viscously. This was it. Or was it? He was pulled up and then thrown into a seat roughly. For a moment he had no idea what the hell was happening. Kaoruko had found, god knows how, a large golf cart. Together they drove away from the horde and towards the glass doors.  
“K-Kaoruko-san! The doors are shut!”  
“I know.” She pressed her foot on the accelerator “Hold on, it’s going to be a rough ride.” Shinbone only had time to close his eyes as the smashed through the double doors. glass flew everywhere, but finally they were free of the horde, which had lagged behind significantly now. The car was waiting at the entrance for them. Kaoruko pulled up  
“ Shinobu, we have about 30 seconds, help me get this in the car.” He only just noticed, in the back seat of the car wear about for crates of water bottles and blankets. they only had 30 seconds, but Shinobu could have sworn they did it in ten. before he knew it they were in the car and speeding towards the main road. they weren’t going to find anyone today, he knew now. all he wanted to do was rest his head against the window and try to ignore the stabbing pain coming from his legs. Of course that was not going to happen.  
“We should have seen this coming.” He heard Haruhiko say. Everyone else remained silent as Shinobu opened his bleary eyes. The main road, their only route back without veering far off course, was blocked by a wall of fire.


	5. Wounds

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoo chapter five! Thank you to everyone who's reading this or left a comment/kudos! It means so much to me :') I hope you enjoy this chapter!
> 
> Warning for violence in this chapter! If you don't like that skip from: "he sprung from his hiding spot"... to..."he tensed to strike" in the chapter that begins "Nowaki found himself..."

Nowaki kicked the car in frustration. They ran out of petrol just half on hour after receiving Hiroki’s location. The three men had taken it in turns to explore the surrounding area to look for fuel, but each time they had either been cornered by zombies or found nothing salvageable. Miyagi was unsettlingly calm. Whenever Nowaki looked at the older man he couldn’t help but wonder how he did it. Not once did Nowaki stop thinking about the distance between himself and his lover. He was his only family and always had been, he needed to keep him safe.  
“We’ll have to search further than the neighbouring streets to find fuel.”  
“That could take a while, this area is pretty huge.” Tsumori sighed, walking towards the back of the ambulance. He peered in to the space behind, filled with medicine and first aid supplies.  
“We might need to consider even leaving the ambulance and just taking as much of this with us as possible.” Nowaki broke out of his daze  
“We can’t. We are still hours away from the Usami mansion, if we have to walk there with all this, it could take days.”  
“Maybe it’s worth the risk.” Nowaki snapped at miyagi who was leaning against the van taking a drag of a cigarette.  
“They could be dead by then. Don’t any of you see how urgent this is? Do you even care about Shinobu at all?!” The air between the two men suddenly went still. Miyagi was completely motionless but still he managed to radiate an air of anger towards the younger man. He stamped out his cigarette.  
“You think I don’t care about Shinobu?”  
“If you do you don’t show it well!””You’re a doctor, you do understand that everyone deals with situations differently? Some deal with loss by crying about it all the time, like you, and others prefer to focus on the present.” He squared up to Nowaki staring him down. “You think i don’t car about Shinobu you’re wrong. Just because you can’t handle this apocalypse doesn’t mean you have to drag us all down with you.” Nowaki stood his ground. Tsumori at last decided to step in.  
“Guys this is not the time. We need to focus.”  
“Yeah.” Nowaki moved away from Miyagi and began to walk away from the ambulance, picking up two canisters and his IV stand on the way (A/N: The one he used to kill the zombies in chapter one!) “I’ll go and search the buildings for fuel.” The other men watched him leave, apprehensive of what he might do next.

“We’ll get nowhere in the car.” Mizuki said bluntly. The group had spent the last hour trying to navigate their way through the streets of Tokyo, but had found their route blocked at almost every turn; cars were piled up, zombies were lurking and the fire was spreading. Shinobu however, was finding it hard to stay focussed on the conversation.  
“If we leave it we won’t get back before dark” Haruhiko sighed and looked back towards the road to survey the damage. Shinobu’s vision was becoming vaguely fuzzy, he shook his head and headed to the car to grab a drink of water. The pain in his side hadn’t gone away, it had only gotten worse and was spreading. He took a large swig of the drink and when he was sure the others weren’t looking he nervously lifted his shirt. It was exactly what he feared. His adrenaline must have cancelled out the pain of the wound, but now he could clearly see it; there was a row of deep bleeding teeth marks lining his side. The skin around it had turned an awful greyish green and the blood had congealed around the bite. It was like the skin was dying, he thought.  
“What are you doing?” Shinobu hastily dropped his shirt and spun around to face Kaoruko  
“Oh it’s nothing, I just banged my ribs when you pulled me in to the golf cart.” Her brows furrowed  
“Sorry about that. Do you think you’ll be able to make it if we walk anywhere, I can have a look at it if you want?” Shinobu shook his head  
“No no I’m fine!” he replied a little too quickly.  
“Are you sure? You look like you’re about to pass out.” By this point the others had caught on to what was happening  
“Shinobu if you’re hurt we can always-“  
“I’m FINE!” He tried to move away from the group but a sharp pain pierced his side. He gasped and fell to his knees.  
“SHINOBU!” Misaki ran forward and caught him before he hit the ground. The teenager could barely see, dark spots blurring his vision. “Shinobu, Shinobu stay awake!” the younger boy looked at his friend as he felt himself slip away from reality.

Misaki felt Shinobu go limp on his arms “wake up! Shinobu!”  
“What happened?” Haruhiko ran over to Misaki. He put his hand against Shinobu’s mouth  
“He just collapsed.”  
“i think he got injured whilst we were running away.” Karaoke added Haruhiko straightened up  
“He’s still breathing, we can check him for wounds when we get to a safe place.” Misaki looked up at Haruhiko fearfully  
“Is he going to die?” Haruhiko didn’t meet Misaki’s eyes  
“I can’t really say right now. It could just be exhaustion or dehydration. But we can’t be sure.” Misaki looked down at his friend, his face was red and although he was unconscious, he was clearly in pain. The smoke in the sky was slowly dispersing to reveal an amber sunset above them. In the distance, if he listened hard, he could hear the shuffling and moaning of zombies coming closer to them.  
“They probably get more active at night. We need to find shelter.”  
“But where? Everywhere is filled with zombies?” Kaoruko had her back to the group looking into the street. She moved away, towards a large map on a sign.  
“Everyone, why don’t we hide in the subway?” She pointed on the map “this says that there is a disused subway just around the corner. We could walk the subway track back towards the house.”  
“and what if the zombies have broken in? They won’t obey signs when they’re hungry for brains.” Kaoruko rolled her eyes at Mizuki  
“Of course they aren’t in there! If it’s disused that means there won’t have been any humans in it in the first place.”  
“Haruhiko-niisan tell her it’s ridiculous.”  
“Haruhiko-niisan tell him it’s the only way!”  
“Shut up both of you!” Haruhiko snapped at them. Kaoruko and Mizuki only stared at him in surprise. Misaki stared wide eyed at the older Usami brother. He had never seen him act like that before, so volatile, so much like Usagi-san. “I don’t need you two having your lovers quarrel here. You could not pick a more unhelpful time.” The pair looked uneasy, but Misaki paid them little notice. Maybe Haruhiko and Akihiko had more in common than he thought. Yes Haruhiko was a little obsessive, and not in a good way, but wasn’t Akihiko too? And now the way he came back at Mizuki and Kaoruko, how had he not noticed before?  
“Misaki, are you alright?” Misaki was pulled out of his daze by Haruhiko’s now calm voice. He blushed slightly when he realised that he had been staring at the Usami brother.  
“Yes I’m fine.”  
“Then what do you think we should do.” Misaki instantly blanched. How could he decide something this important? He caught Mizuki’s eye, this was a test. He knew usually he would say “I-I don’t mind.” or “I can’t make a de vision that important.” but he gulped back his insecurity and pulled himself to his feet, supporting Shinobu’s limp form  
“We should go to the Subway.”

 

Nowaki found himself inside an old office building. He had begun to climb the stair to the roof, but found that the upper levels were teeming with zombies. Quietly he made his way back down the stairs and to the third level, were there were fewer to no zombies. He walked around, establishing what had been left behind; the office itself was pretty much intact, but it became clear that another group of survivors had come in and stripped the building of anything worth taking. He groaned in disappointment. He was about to check out the second floor when a map caught his eyes. It was a map of the building, at the bottom of which was a basement clearly labelled “car park”. Resolve sparked he walked swiftly and quietly towards the stairwell and made his way carefully down the steps. The basement was shrouded in darkness. visibility was so poor that he could not see even 3 ft in front of him. “The electrics must have been damaged.” he thought as he felt inside his bloodstained doctors coat and grabbed a torch. He cautiously mad his way in to the dark the torch lighting an avenue before him. Nowaki was a hard man to scare, that was true, but with the torch casting such dark shadows and with the knowledge that just three floors above him was an office load of zombies he could feel the adrenaline begin to burn through him. The car park was, thankfully filled with cars, none of which seemed to have been used since the beginning of the apocalypse. He approached the closest one and began to pour the fuel into one of the two large canisters he had brought with him. He repeated this process three or for times until one was completely full, before he heard it. The shuffling of feet to his left. They were slow and lazy. If they knew he was there then they would have sped up by now. He couldn’t tell how many there were. Two, no three definitely. He looked at the light in his hands; if he turned it off, they would not find him, but if he kept it on, he would only know where they were by hearing alone. He heard a groan and suddenly dropped the light. It rolled across the floor and came to a halt in the middle of the floor. Nowaki was knew he had to move, he heard them coming closer to the light. He quietly navigated his way around the dark keeping his back to the walls until he was as far back from the light as possible. Five zombies staggered into view. One was already missing a leg and the other four were completely distracted by the light. He gripped the IV stand in his hand and sprung form his hiding spot. Immediately he took out the zombie on the right, stabbing the sharp metal rod through its head, he yanked it out quickly and spun around hitting the next zombie in the chest with all the force he could. The one legged zombie began to drag itself across the floor but Nowaki was too quick for it, crushing it’s head beneath his foot. At this point he had lost the element of surprise and the other two zombies were quickly in him, one swung out with his arms, flailing rotting hands towards Nowaki’s warm flesh. Nowaki jumped out of range and stabbed hard with the IV stand. He felt the stick pierce the zombie, but when he made to pull it out he found it stuck between to ribs. He pulled hard but it wouldn’t budge. The final zombie launched itself at him, out of options he swung the stick, zombie and all, at the attacker. It only bought him moments. He tried again to pull the IV out of the zombie with no success. The zombie attacked again but this time something forced it aside. From the shadows Nowaki heard a sickening crack and a squelch. Suddenly the IV cam free and he held it out defensively. The sound of footsteps began to echo from just ahead of him. He tensed to strike, but instead of a zombie a red headed woman emerged from the dark.  
“Trust me you won’t need that.” Nowaki relaxed slightly.  
“Who are you, what are you doing here?” The woman smiled and held out a poorly bandaged arm  
“I am Eiri Aikawa, nice to meet you.”

As Kaoruko had predicted, the subway was completely void of all people, alive or dead. The had picked their way through various official barriers and tunnels before they managed to find the platform which MIsaki knew was the quickest for access to north Roppongi. once there they made camp, Mizuki choosing to keep watch at the foot of the stairs whilst Kaoruko inspected the tunnel.  
“All clear here too.”  
“I’ll let you know if anythings coming!” Mizuki called down to the others. Haruhiko had helped Misaki carry Shinobu from their original spot to here, whilst the others carried what they could from the car to the station. Now both were kneeling next to the unconscious boy.  
“We need to check his wounds.” Haruhiko said  
“I’ll do it, I did a bit of first aid university so I might be able to do something for him.” Haruhiko nodded, leaning back against the wall as Misaki took off Shinobu’s jacket. He checked his left side and found nothing out of the ordinary except for some bruised skin. His arms and legs seemed to be free of injury too. He felt around Shinobu’s head, but again he was completely free of lumps or cuts. His hands moved to his right side. He lifted the shirt. Shinobu’s front was very badly bruised, a green almost grey colour with dark black and brown veins curling around his ribs and abdomen. He frowned ad turned Shinobu’s body slightly so his back was facing him. Mistake dropped the shirt down immediately and rolled Shinobu back on to his back. He grabbed the coat and wrapped it around the younger boy, zipping it up tight. He stood up and backed away hands shaking. That couldn’t have been what it looked like, there was no time it could have happened? Misaki thought desperately.  
“Misaki did you find something?” He heard Haruhiko get up and move towards him. What should he say. They didn’t know Shinobu, they would leave him behind. He couldn’t let that happen. Do you even know him, is it worth protecting him and risking them? a voice rang through his head. He shivered uncomfortably and forced himself to turn around and face Haruhiko  
“Nothing. Just some bruising, h-he might have a broken rib or two.” Haruhiko sighed, running his hand through his hair  
“Okay, what do you suggest? I won’t pretend to know anything about first aid.” MIsaki looked down at the shivering boy. It was no on him to make sure Shinobu didn’t turn and kill them all in their sleep. What could he do?  
“I think we should take turns watching him, one of us every 2 hours until morning. We should try and leave as early as possible tomorrow so I’ll go last and get him ready. Haruhiko nodded  
“Kaoruko!”  
“What is it?” She came around the climbed up out of the subway track and onto the platform.  
“We’re going to turns watching Shinobu, mind going first?” She nodded and headed over to his passed out form.

Haruhiko and Misaki made camp on the other side of the platform. Kaoruko and Mizuki were both in sight, but out of ear shot. Mistake leant his head back on the wall, his heart felt heavy from his deception but he had to do this, to protect his friend. His eyes drift over to Haruhiko again. Physically the two brothers were quite different, there was no trace of Akihiko’s light complexion or purple eyes on the older brother’s face. He was taller also and more serious looking, but that might have been the glasses. He couldn’t figure out what had made him think the two were similar before. It went beyond just them acting the same, or sharing a slight resemblance. It had to be something in Haruhiko’s aura, which was just so Akihiko-esque.  
“NOt that I’m complaining, but why is it that you have been staring at me?” Misaki blushed again realising his blatant mistake  
“s-sorry it’s nothing really…”  
“Misaki, please tell me. If there is something you need I will get it for you.” Misaki felt himself roll his eyes slightly, some people never really change, he thought.  
“… honestly I’ve just been thinking recently that you remind me of Usagi-san.”  
“You mean my brother?” Misaki nodded  
“It’s just the way you’ve been carrying yourself, sometimes even the things you say, they remind me of him.” Haruhiko stood looking down at Misaki  
“have you forgotten, Misaki? I love you. Don’t compare me to Akihiko, surely you know how that would hurt me?” Mistake suddenly felt guilty. Haruhiko began to walk away but Misaki stood up and called after him  
“I’m sorry, Haruhiko-san.” The older man only slightly turned to look at the younger man  
“You love Akihito and you said I was like him. It hurts now, but later I’m sure I could use that to my advantage.” Misaki, stunned into silence slumped back down on the floor and leant his head on his arms. It was hard to stay strong when everything was falling apart around him.


	6. Alone together

The sun flooded into the subway station. Shinobu squirmed, feeling the warmth on his body. He curled instinctively away from the sunlight, it hurt his head. He slowly opened his eyes. He was still human, for now, but the cracks were starting to show. How long would he last like this, shying away form the sun, before he finally turned? He forced himself to turn around, unsure whether or not to be thankful that the pain in his side had dulled. He looked at the sleeping forms of his companions. He would be dead already if they knew, and as long as he stayed with them they would be dead too. He felt his side and froze. Someone had seen, he had been bandaged in the night. His eyes instantly flew to Misaki. The boy was curled up in the corner, asleep. Shinobu felt a sudden rush of gratitude for the boy.  
“thank you.” he whispered as he passed him. Shinobu had made his decision. Now at least he could die on his own terms. He did not look back as he made his way out of the station.

It was an uncomfortably warm day, or maybe he was just dying? Shinobu wasn’t sure he could trust his senses anymore. He wound his way through the maze of abandoned cars and bodies and towards the open road. He was still deep in the heart of the city, when he encountered the first horde. He hesitated, should he turn back? His hand went to his side. it was covered, but Shinobu could still feel the raised cuts on his skin. He sighed and started to walk again, through the middle of the street. on either side of him he could hear the zombies coming closer. He closed his eyes and kept going. He wondered how far he could get before they caught him. “Miyagi, we had the best time.” soft tears threatened to fall form his eyes, he forced them open “I wish we could have stayed together… i guess things don’t really work out the way they do in your head.” He didn’t care that no one could hear him, he didn’t care anymore that he could feel the breath of hungry zombies on his back, or hear their moans. He hugged his chest and let the tears fall as he felt rough hands stop him in his tracks.

“Mizuki have you found him?” Haruhiko called down into the empty subway tunnel. Misaki saw Mizuki’s agitated frame make its way back on to the platform.  
“nothing.” the older Usagi brother turned around and strode towards where Misaki was standing. The boy looked distraught, a little too distraught if anyone asked Haruhiko.  
“He was right here.”  
“Misaki.” Haruhiko tried to catch his attention but the younger boy was in his own world. “Misaki, listen to me. You’ve been acting strange since we got here, I know this is a stressful situation, but if there is anything you can tell me it could make a difference.” Haruhiko turned to leave. He knew he had made a mark on Misaki’s mind. MIsaki stared at the ground where his friend had been sleeping. He couldn’t help but think about the most obvious conclusion, that Shinobu had turned into a zombie and walked out of his own accord. They were going to help him, so he had no other reason to leave. Misaki felt sick to his stomach. He had to tell them, it was the only way.  
“H-Haruhiko-san.” The older man, who had joined Mizuki at the foot of the stairs, looked over at him “Haruhiko-san there’s something about-“  
“Everyone come quick I found something.” Misaki silenced immediately. For a moment no one moved. Mizuki watched Haruhiko watch Misaki. The older brother looked at him expectantly. Miscue tried to continue, but his voice wouldn’t work. Any courage he had gathered before had fled him completely.  
“Guys come on!” Kaoruko ran part way back down the stairs “I think I found something!”

Above ground the group was stood around a dark red mark on the floor. Misaki knew that Shinobu’s wound had been fresh, but could it have bled this much? He looked questioningly at Kaoruko  
“So you think…this is Shinobu’s?” She looked at Misaki as though he was asking if the sky was blue  
“Of course. It’s so fresh so it can’t be zombie blood, and no one else would have been able to get here without one of us knowing first.” Misaki wanted to believe that Shinobu had left here alive and fighting, but somehow he just couldn’t believe it. “The question, then, is what do you want to do now?” instinctively Misaki and the cousins turned to look at Haruhiko. His eyes briefly met Misaki’s. He knew he must have looked desperate, because almost reluctantly he said  
“We will search the surrounding area, but we have to be moving within the hour if we want to get back before they send more people out after us.” Misaki felt himself relax. They headed out into the street. Mistake was glad that they were finally looking for Shinobu, but he couldn’t help himself wondering whether or not to check the bodies on the ground for the face of his friend.

 

Shinobu had prepared himself for a lot of things in those moments; fear, death, the incomparable pain of being torn limb from limb to name a few. What he had not been prepared for were those rough hands to push him out of harms way and into the arms of a group of beautiful men. Shinobu could not for the life of him remember how the tall princely man had killed so many zombies so fast, nor how a green eyed man had been so quick to throw him a knife and enter the fight himself.  
What he could remember was the strange relief and disappointment of still being alive despite resigning himself to death. No matter how he thought about it, he was going to be dying soon anyway, so was being saved still a good thing? It turned out the knife was useless, as by the time he had come to his senses the prince had stabbed the last zombie through the eye. He wiped the blood off of his sword and went over to short dark haired man. They spoke quickly under their voices whilst the others began to regroup.  
“Oi, Kid what’s your name?” A taller man with dark brown hair stood in front of Shinobu  
“Why did you save me?”  
“That wasn’t my question. We just saved you, so we have a right to know who you are.” he bit his tongue and replied  
“Takatsuki Shinobu” The man heaved a sigh and turned back to the group  
“Guys it isn’t him.”  
“This one was a long shot though don’t you think?” the green eyed man added  
“Well he’s getting desperate now, besides they look about the same age…” he sighed again. “my name is Takano, that is Onodera , Kisa and Yukina.” Some of them nodded, Yukina gave an enthusiastic smile and wave (as though he wasn’t covered in zombie guts.) A moan came from the streets. The men tensed  
“We should get inside.” Takano said, they nodded and began to move carefully back into a building just to their left. Ritsu beckoned Shinobu in to follow them  
“you know you’re really lucky we were on our way out when we saw you.” Shinobu did not respond as he followed the others in to a mostly intact building. “Why didn’t you run away? It looked to me like just let them get you?” their eyes met and Ritsu seemed to regret his words. He averted his eyes and resumed walking.  
“we’re back!” Shinobu heard someone say as they entered a room at the back of the building. There were no windows and boxes of food and water piled around the edges of the room. Inside there were four more men. three of whom were relatively close together, one who was sitting on his own at the edge of the room. The man had the appearance of someone who had gone through hell and back. He looked tired, dark circles had begun to form under his striking purple eyes. His hair was messed as though he had kept running his hands through it in worry. More than anything however, this man had the look of someone who was close to breaking.  
“Shinobu, you know him?” He turned to face Takano shaking his head.  
“No sorry, I’ve never met him before.” The other man nodded. The men had settled themselves around the room. shinobu stood at the edge of the room, uncertain of what he was doing there.  
“come and sit down.” Kisa called over to him. He joined them, still apprehensive.  
“What were you doing in the street?”  
“walking.”  
“No, you stopped. You wanted them to get you.”  
“…so what if I did.”  
“Why?”  
“Why all the questions? If you thought I was suspicious you should have just let me die.”  
“T-takano-san, let him be a bit. Just tell us enough to prove you aren’t a threat.” Shinobu looked at the ground, there was no way he could avoid their questions.  
“I was travelling with my friends, but I got hurt yesterday and I left.”  
“you were bitten, weren’t you?” Shinobu froze, staring in horror at Yukina. The others hadn’t seemed to react, what should he do? Run? Would they kill him? “I was just thinking, you were hurt so you left and then you tried to get yourself killed. Those sound like the actions of a dying man to me.”  
“…and if I was, bitten. What would you do then?”  
“Nothing. Not anymore at least.” The purple eyed man spoke, his voice remarkably smooth compared to his rough appearance. “You said it, yesterday you got hurt. That bite, if it was going to kill you, would have done so by now.” He ran his hand through his silver hair “Tell me, did you pass out?” Shinobu frowned  
“yes.”  
“Then what, it looked pretty bad like it was spreading?”  
“…I think so.” The man leant forward in his seat studying the teenagers face  
“Then you woke up, your senses messed up, too hot or sensitive to light, but pretty much okay again?” Shinobu nodded. The purple eyed man leant back in his seat, resuming his disinterested posture “well then, looks like you’re in the right place.” Shinobu frowned looking back a the men in the room  
“I don’t understand?” Ritsu stood first, pulling up his jeans leg, Yukina pulled down his high collar, and Chiaki and Hatori both rolled up their sleeves. In an instant Shinobu understood why they hadn’t thrown him out a the mention of his bite. These men had all been bitten. Just like his own bite, they looked black and rotting, but theirs had begun to show signs of healing.  
“Congratulations.” The purple eyed man spoke again. “you’re immune.” Shinobu’s heart skipped a beat. He could not believe it. If he believed it, that meant that he could still go home and see Miyagi again. That was too much hope for one man to handle.  
“Show us your wound.” Hatori came up to him now holding a small first aid kit. “ We just need to make sure it’s clean otherwise it won’t heal.” Shinbone gulped and pulled up his shirt. He heard Chiaki say “ouch” true his was far blacker than the other’s, but he could see the veins beginning to form just beneath his skin. The man cleaned the teeth marks and changed the bandage.  
“Why are the veins around it black?”  
“As far as we know, it is the blood and the venom. Your blood, like ours has a very unique ability. It doesn’t soak in the poison.”  
“So it’s just there?” he asked as he pulled his shirt back down  
“as long as it can’t mix, you won’t become a zombie.” He nodded  
“What will you do now, knowing you won’t turn?” Shinobu frowned.  
“I don’t know, I know where they are waiting but still…” it was time for the purple eyed man to chime in again.  
“you’re lucky you even know where you’re loved ones are. Go back to them, while you still can.” Shinobu had the sudden urge to get out of there. He couldn’t stand being down here for much longer, he had learnt too much for one person to handle.  
“Thank you, for helping me. Good luck with…you know.” The men nodded. He was about to leave when the purple eyed man spoke again  
“I’ll walk you to the front.”

Shinobu couldn’t quite figure out why the older man had come with him. He stayed relatively quiet, leading Shinobu out of the maze of hallways that made up the safe house. He was curious about this man, about something he had said before  
“You’ve lost someone?” He asked, bravely. The man looked at him from the corner of his eyes  
“Yes. I have no leads, no location. Nothing.” They had almost reached the entrance when he asked again  
“That’s better in some ways.” The purple eyed man lit a cigarette, breathing in deeply  
“I doubt that.”  
“I saw my lover taken away form me. Trust me, I’d prefer to not have seen him like that. At least your last memory wasn’t of him surrounded by the undead.” They stopped just shy of the door, the older man leant with his back against the glass and observed the route they had just walked  
“Interesting idea. I could use that in a book. Good luck out there.” Shinobu nodded  
“Thanks.”

It was eerily quiet. They fanned out in the street, checking buildings and alleyways. Mistake noticed that not only did they find no sign of Shinobu, but also not a single zombie.  
“I mean as glad as I am that they aren’t attacking us, it is weird isn’t it?” Mizuki commented part way through their search  
“They’re probably distracted with something else.” Kaoruko added “they don’t seem smart, I assume that they would all heard together.”  
“What if they herded around Shinobu?” No one responded to Misaki’s question. Honestly he wasn’t sure if he wanted them to. Haruhiko had asked where ehe was most likely to go, to which Mizuki deduced that the highway out of Tokyo was the most straight forward route for him to take. Sure enough, the closer they got to highway, the more Zombies they had to avoid.  
“What the hell happened here?” Misaki looked at were Kaoruko was pointing. There were no zombies here, well no living zombies. At least a dozen corpses littered the ground outside a tall sky scraper. As Misaki drew closer towards the scene, he heard a clattering noise from behind him. He spun around quickly and pulled out his hand gun.  
“Misaki, it’s me!”  
“Sh-shinobu!” He dropped the gun and ran forward pulling the teenager into a hug.  
“How are you alive?” Misaki asked Shinobu quietly, hoping that he would understand  
“It’s a long story.” Misaki pulled away. His eyes drifted to the shadowy figure facing away from him.  
“Who is that?” Shinobu began to lead Misaki back towards the group  
“Just one the guys who helped me out.” Misaki nodded. He just couldn’t shake the feeling that he had seen that man somewhere before.

They walked back to their car once they decided the route they would take back to the mansion. Thankfully it was still in one piece, with just enough fuel to get them back. The drive was bitterly silent. Haruhiko and Mizuki had decided to completely ignore Shinobu as a sign of their disapproval of his disappearance. Kaoruko had asked him why he left, but his answer was less than satisfactory to her. Everyone in the car knew the Misaki and Shinobu had intentionally kept something form them and right now Misaki wasn’t sure how safe that was. He remembered what usagi-chichi had said about the younger generation liking him. He hadn’t tried to throw Misaki out since then, but what if Misaki fell noticeably out of favour with the others? What would happen to him then? They over took an ambulance about a half hour later, but otherwise Misaki saw no sings of life in the city. Where had all the people gone? They pulled in to the driveway of the Mansion not too long after. Shinobu led Misaki in the direction of Hiroki who was sitting on the front steps of the house. When he saw them, he stood up in surprise  
“You’re back! We couldn’t figure out what happened!” Misaki grimaced  
“It all started in costco I guess-“ He was about to continue when he hear the noise of the mansion gates opening. Hiroki shot up instantly. His eyes wide. An ambulance pulled into the drive way of the house. Hiroki took a shaky step forward as it finally rolled to a stop.

Nowaki sat in the back of the ambulance with Miyagi. Both had decided that Aikawa was more than deserving of the front seat after saving Nowaki. Both men stayed silent as they heard the noise of the gates open. Their eyes met, giving each other reassuring nods as they felt the car roll to a stop. Nowaki jumped up instantly, whilst Miyagi remained seated a little longer. The tall man almost kicked the door open in his haste, jumping out the other side and coming in to view of the house. The site that greeted him was the most beautiful he had ever seen. Hiroki stood their frozen in time, the breeze slightly lifting his hair from his perfect, living, face. He ran, he didn’t care who was watching or where they were. All the mattered was that somehow Hiroki was alive and they were together. He threw his arms around his lover and buried his head into the crook of his kneck, breathing in the scent that he hadn’t realised he’d missed  
“HIro-san, Hiro-san. i’ll never leave you again.” He could feel his lovers smaller frame begin to tremble as he wrapped his arms tight around his waist. Nowaki lifted his head from Hiroki’s shoulder and leant his forehead again Hiroki’s. The younger man’s flushed face turned a deeper shade of red  
“I knew you’d find me, baka. And I’ll be the one who doesn’t let you go.” he couldn’t quite gather the force he would have usually put behind those words. He was far too captivated by the look of pure happiness that was written all over this lover’s face. He felt Nowaki’s eyes explore his features, as though he was seeing them for the first time. He felt the gaze lingering on his lips. Nowaki leant in slowly, only just ghosting his lips over Hiroki’s. The older man leant forward, pressing into the kiss. Even something this simple made his heart beat quickly. He felt Nowaki smile against his lovers lips as he pulled away slightly  
“I love you, Hiro-san.” Hiroki hid his face in Nowaki’s chest, leaning into his lover’s warmth as he felt familiar arms hold him tighter  
“I love you too.”

Miyagi watched Nowaki exit the ambulance. Miyagi still had to decide what to do from here, now even though they would be together, they still couldn’t be together. This was an issue that clearly did not bother Nowaki, he thought spitefully. How could they carry on their relationship like this? He got to his feet and exited the van. Outside was filled with mixed emotions. Of cours eShinobu wouldn’t have been waiting for him, he didn’t know he as coming, but he felt uneasy all the same. He walked past Nowaki and Hiroki, who were wrapped in each others arms. On the stairs to the mansions entrance he saw Tsumori and Aikawa standing, unsure of what to do now. They watched him enter the house, but he ignored them. Inside people were moving around, spreading the news that survivors had arrived. Some gave him suspicious looks, this who recognised him from Mitsuhashi all looked shocked. One man, who he remembered had been sitting in the front of the car, crossed his path.  
“Hey, you, I’m looking for someone.” The man nodded but said nothing, Miyagi went on “Takatsuki Shinobu.”  
“He’s over there, with the dean.” He pointed to a doorway at the end of the corridor. Mirage didn’t even think the man, he just took off, walking swiftly down the corridor until he had his hand on the doorknob ready to push it open  
“You could have been killed!” He froze at the sound of the Deans voice, it sounded furious.  
“You don’t care about me, you never have!” He heard the sound of a hand hitting flesh. He burned inside forcing himself to stay put. “What, is that it? You’re going to say I care for you, look at everything I did for you… all you’ve done is let other people die while you sit in here and pretend none of this is happening.” He heard foot steps approaching the door. He ducked into a side corridor just as the dean threw the door open and marched outside. When he was certain the dean was gone he turned back to the door. It was slightly ajar. Inside he heard the gentle sobs of his lover, that was enough to break his heart. He stepped into the room letting the door swing shut behind him. The sound of the door slamming made Shinobu jump. He turned around to see who had come in. 

When His eyes settled in Miyagi’s form he almost thought he was hallucinating. He spun around quickly and stared at Miyagi  
“M-miyagi?” He felt a wave of relief wash over him. Fresh tears threatened to fall from his eyes as he ran forward and threw himself into his lovers arms. “Miyagi!”  
“Shinobu, I’m sorry for keeping you waiting.” Shinobu lifted his head, as he felt warm hands brush against his jaw. Their lips met, gently at first, but soon they grew fiercer. Miyagi held Shinobu tightly as he ran his tongue across his lovers swollen lips. They parted to the touch, allowing Miyagi to follow take his mouth. Shinobu kissed back hungrily. He felt Miyagi pull away slightly, as though to end the kiss  
“No…” he whispered breathlessly against his lover’s lips. Miyagi broke their kiss looking down at his lover. Both of them were full of want for each other and neither could resist. Miyagi picked Shinobu up and cried him to the sofa at the side of the room. He didn’t care who heard or saw,all Shinobu wanted was Miyagi inside of him. He wanted bruises and hickeys and proof that he was really there. He held tight as Miyagi laid him down on the sofa. Their kisses resumed, hungrier than before. Mirage moved away from his mouth trailing kisses along his jaw and neck before resting on a spot just above his collar bone. He felt the older man suck and bite there “ah M-miyagi!” he cried feeling pleasure spread through him from the pain. His lover stopped biting the now raw red mark and moved back to his Shinobu’s mouth, capturing his lips once more. Shinobu had just wound his arms around his lover once more when he felt Miyagi’s hand begin to trail along the inside of his shirt. He froze instantly. Caught up in the bliss of seeing Miyagi again he had forgotten about the bite. Miyagi noticed the sudden change in his lover. He was about to say something when Shinobu grabbed his hand defensively, pulling it away from his shirt. He sat up, looking anywhere but his lover  
“Shinobu..?”  
“I-I can’t.” He saw Miyagi visibly flinch at the words  
“What happened?” Shinobu stayed silent, still not meeting his lover’s concerned gaze. “Shinobu tell me.”  
“It has nothing to do with you!” He hadn’t meant the words to come out so aggressively, but before he knew it they were said. Miyagi tensed in front of him, moving away from his lover. “It’s my problem.” There was silence between the pair. Shinobu should have known it wouldn’t have been this easy. He heard Miyagi say that he needed some air as he mad to walk out of the room.  
“I understand if you don’t want to rush back into anything, but if you can’t trust me anymore I’m going to find it hard to trust you still.” He heard the door behind him close and put his head in his hands. What was he going to do now?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just to clarify, Shinobu doesn't know what Akihito looks like, so when they meet he doesn't know it's him! I hope you guys like this chapter, it was pretty heavy content wise so if you don't understand what's going down just let me know!
> 
> in case I missed any autocorrect >:(  
> Shinbone=Shinobu  
> Mirage=Miyagi  
> Mistake=Misaki  
> Karaoke=Kaoruko
> 
> I actually hate autocorrect and I will edit if I see the names changed anywhere the series! Enjoy :) xx


	7. Nightmares

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> so it's been wayyyy too long since i updated this story. I decided to put an end to my madness and just get to it! This is a little shorted than the others but it's late and i don't want to write anymore tonight! before the end of the week the second part of this chapter will be up! sorry to keep you all waiting, I hope you enjoy this anyway! :)

“So I stopped him and he asked me what was wrong…I wouldn’t tell him.”  
“And that’s when he left?”Shinobu nodded. After the incident with Miyagi the day before the pair had barely spoken to each other. The older man had spent time catching up with Hiroki whenever he wasn’t ‘talking’ to his lover somewhere in the house, or with the other survivors. Shinobu had figured out that Misaki knew about his bite, but it seemed going and talking to him about it was almost impossible. He just didn’t know how to say what he wanted. If Misaki knew then did that really mean he would help him? Or would Shinobu’s worries be falling on deaf ears? Shinobu had spent almost an hour pacing around the room he and Misaki had been sharing, waiting for the older boy to come back from training with the Usamis. He heard footsteps coming down the corridor and stopped pacing abruptly, his clammy hands ringing together nervously. He shouldn’t have been nervous. The moment Misaki walked in and saw Shinobu’s fearful face, he knew that he could not avoid the subject any longer.

Misaki was sitting on the bed leaning his back against the wall, in front of him Shinobu was worryingly pale. He leant forward, thinking about what the bite  
“What are you actually worried about?” Shinobu blinked at him  
“What do you mean?”  
“Well if Miyagi loves you and went through all this hell to find you again, I think he would stick by you. Even in this.” Shinobu frowned and stared at his hands. Misaki sighed and pushed himself up off of the bed “Shinobu if i were you, I would trust Miyagi.” Misaki couldn’t figure out why but shinobu was starting to get on his nerves. The boy was a good friend to him now, but he had what Misaki wasn’t sure he’d ever have again, his lover. He looked at the boy sitting on the bed.   
“but it looks gross! What if he hates me when he finds out!” Misaki was silently loosing his temper. He had never felt like this before, frustration and annoyance all coming to the surface “I wish I had died out there than had to face him like this.” as the words left Shinobu’s mouth Misaki snapped  
“Don’t be a brat!” He spun around and stared angrily at the teenager “So what if you’ve been bitten, you’re alive! You and Miyagi are together! You’re just being selfish Shinobu.” Misaki stormed out of the room and down the corridor leaving an offended Shinobu alone again. he kept walking until he found his way blocked by a large dark haired figure.  
“Misaki, are you okay?” Haruhiko asked him concerned. Misaki nodded vigorously  
“I’m fine.” He tried to move past the older Usami but and arm caught his  
“if you’re fine why are you crying?” Misaki looked at him wide eyed. Sure enough he felt tears begin to roll down his cheeks.The older brother looked remarkably calm in the face of Misaki’s break down  
“I’m sorry…I just. I don’t know…” Misaki felt sobs escape between his words. Since this all began he couldn’t remember ever crying like this. there had been tearful moments, he had felt hurt beyond despair, but never had Misaki completely lost control. His sobs echoed throughout the deserted hallway, ringing sharply in his ears. he couldn’t escape this hell, he didn’t even have Akihiko to keep him grounded. Without him by his side everything was in free fall. He collapsed against the older man, not realising what he was doing. He felt warm arms surround him as he trembled in Haruhiko’s embrace. Why did this happen, why couldn’t he have what Shinobu and Hiroki had. He could almost imagine it now, Akihiko’s arms around, holding him strongly against his body as he cried. He could feel his large hands running through his hair soothing his tears. He felt his sobs begin to slow. He could feel Akihiko kissing way the tears on his cheeks, he could feel warm lips cover his own. He sunk into his lovers warmth gripping the older mans shirt tightly in his hands. He felt his back pressed against the wall as Akihiko deepened their kiss.  
“Excuse me, Haruhiko-sama.” Misaki’s eyes flew open. It wasn’t Akihiko, it was Haruhiko. He was frozen in horror looking up at the older man. He hadn’t meant to do it, he hadn’t mean to do anything like this with Haruhiko. Regret was painted all over his face and Haruhiko could see it there. The older man sighed and moved away form their position against the wall.  
“Tanaka?”  
“Your father is asking for you.” The older Usami brother nodded and walked away without another look at Misaki, who was still collapsed against the Wall, frozen in shock. He heard Haruhiko’s footsteps disappear, but the reality of what happened was overwhelming him. Tanaka appeared by his side  
“I’m sorry, Takahashi-san, I thought that maybe I should stop you.” Misaki finally came out of his trance and nodded mutely at Tanaka, who bowed and left through another door. That’s right, he had done this, he had betrayed Akihiko. 

Nowaki and HIroki had managed to escape the other survivors, finding themselves alone in a quiet part of the mansion. Hiroki was leading Nowaki down a hall when he came to a stop. “Hiro-san?” Nowaki questioned softly. Hiroki said nothing, instead leading Nowaki into a familiar room just to their right. When he pushed the door open he recognised it immediately. As a child he had often been invited to the Usami household this was one of the “secret” rooms Akihiko had shown him. Back then this whole part of the house was covered in cobwebs and in need of repair, meaning that whenever the two had come to this room, it was certain that they were alone. It had been like an adventure. Now the room had been cleaned and everything was new and shiny, however the memories Hiroki held still made the room seem a little magical. He turned and pulled Nowaki towards him. Nowaki, stunned at his lovers boldness, wrapped the shorter man in his arms. In here, at least, they could pretend they weren’t living through hell.  
“Hiro-san, I don’t think I’ve said this yet, but I’m so happy you’re safe.” Nowaki breathed into his lovers neck, indulging in his warmth  
“what are you saying..? of course I’m safe doofus. Here, we’re all safe.” Nowaki tightened his grip  
“what if we’re not safe?” Hiroki froze suddenly. Something wasn’t right. The had room gone cold, all the light from outside had dimmed to grey.  
“Nowaki…” he did not respond. He felt cold. Hiroki tried to push himself away to look into his lovers face, but the man wouldn’t budge. “Nowaki?” suddenly he felt jaws bite sharply down on his neck. Blood poured from the wound as he cried out in pain, just managing to separate himself from the danger. Nowaki’s skin was rotting his eyes wide and blood red. He staggered forward  
“Hiro-san” he groaned. For a moment the room was still, Hiroki was cornered and he thought maybe he would find a way out. Then with a monstrous roar Nowaki launched himself at Hiroki.

“AH” Hiroki shouted as he sat bolt upright. The room was dark, but he wasn’t where he thought he was. Hiroki was in bed with a large warm figure by his side. He slowly turned his head to face the man. Nowaki had jumped up with him and instinctively grabbed his hand. He had a look of deep worry on his face.  
“Hiro-san what’s wrong?” the older man shook his head, pressing a clammy palm to his forehead.  
“n-nothing I just had a…bad dream.” Nowaki pulled Hiroki back onto the bed and tucked him right up beneath his arm.  
“What are you doing?!” he protested, trying to wiggle out of nowaki’s tight grip  
“If I hold you like this then the nightmares can’t get you.”  
“idiot Nowaki! nightmares aren’t real…I know that.” Nowaki smiled he had expected this reaction from his lover.  
“well at least this way i’ll be eaten first if the zombies break in.” Hiroki sprung away again. He looked down at Nowaki he simply watched him from his spot on the bed. Hiroki would not let any harm come to nowaki, not when he walked on this earth. of course he would never scythes out loud, but he could show Nowaki. He caught his lover by surprise when Hiroki pushed him onto his side and wrapped his arms firmly around his torso.   
“Hiro-san”  
“I like it…this way.” The younger looked like he was going to say something but one look from the other silenced him. Instead the pair settled down in the bed which was almost too warm wrapped comfortably in eachother. HIroki had no more nightmares that night, but he didn’t dream either.

In another room Misaki lay staring at the ceiling. Just as he thought he had found a confidant in Haruhiko he had ruined it. He almost thought he could see a face staring down at him from the black ceiling. It looked a little bit like Akihiko, but something was off. Maybe his expression was harsher than before.  
“you spent more of your time looking after that kid than looking for me.” it whispered to him in the dark “I thought I was the most important thing in your life.” Misaki gulped before responding  
“he would have died if we hadn’t looked for him…”  
“He didn’t want to be found. You should have let him die.”  
“That’s stupid I couldn’t do that.” MIsaki protested, but this only made the face angrier  
“that’s right you couldn’t do it and now you have to watch him and that pervert boyfriend of his all happy. Whilst you have nothing.”  
“That’s not my fault! I’ve been trying to find you!” Misaki choked  
“Have you? looks more like you’ve been trying to find a way to replace me” suddenly the image of Haruhiko burned in his mind. He felt tears fall from his eyes  
“No…that not true…”  
“that guy isn’t trying to help you, he’s trying to take you for himself. And that kid? you think he’s going to help you now? Now that you are a threat to him?” Misaki frowned  
“what do you mean”  
“the bite. now you know, he can’t trust you. face it you’ve lost your friends Misaki” A knock sounded form the door. Misaki sat up and wiped away his tears  
“who’s there?” Kaoruko came into the room  
“Misako are you ok”  
“Yes I’m fine.” She looked around the room confused.  
“I thought I heard voices, I thought you were arguing with someone…” Misaki looked away from her, wringing his hands through the covers  
“nope just me haha. You must have imagined it!” She frowned  
“I suppose…well good night then.”  
“Night.” she closed the door behind her. He was not crazy there was no one in this room with him. He closed his eyes and forced himself to sleep. No matter how hard he tried to forget the conversation however, one question kept coming back to him. Could he really trust Shinobu?


	8. Out of Mind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for posting a week late! I moved back into Uni so it's been pretty hectic, but I promised a hell of a chapter and I think this is one. There are some bit that might seem confusing so if there's anything unclear just let me know :) enjoy

Misaki had been avoiding him since the fight, Miyagi hadn’t spoken to him since the night before and the bite was becoming very hard to conceal. It hard torn through enough of his skin to leave a gruesome oozing hole where part of his kidney should have been. Although according to the other immunes, the bite would not turn him into a zombie, it was still painful and he was starting to feel the effects of having a gaping wound exposed to constant battering everyday. He carried stuff for the new comers, he slept on the floor to make room for others who needed the beds. Shinobu knew that there was someone here who could help him, but he didn’t know if he could be trusted. Nowaki was a man he knew very little about, but since he arrived a few days before he could tell that the Doctor was a decent man. Shinobu laid his head on his hands. It hurt to think through everything  
“Hey Shinobu.” he jumped and turned to face the door. Mizuki was standing, leant against the frame  
“Mizuki, whats up?”  
“I’m looking for Misaki, have you seen him?”. Shinobu shook his head  
“Not since yesterday. Whats wrong?” The other man frowned and pinched the bridge of his nose  
“We’re supposed to be helping him learn how to protect himself but since he came back with you guys the other day he’s been… difficult. Don’t worry about it but if you see him around let him know i was here.” He left as Shinobu stood. He stretched his arms and turned to leave when he was surprised to find that Mizuki had come back “oh and I almost forgot, Uncle Fuyuhiko is looking for you.” Shinobu froze. Why did Fuyuhiko want to see him? His instantly thought about the bite. How could he have found out his secret already?

Shinobu made his way to the large bedroom on the top floor, where Fuyuhiko was waiting for him. When he entered he was greeted by the man sitting comfortably behind a large mahogany desk. The room itself was grand, and, as in many other rooms in this house, it seemed so out of place in a world where just 100 metres away Zombies were waiting to find a way in. The man did not look up immediately when Shinobu entered, but instead stared at something on his desk. He was frowning at it as though concerned. Shinobu was curious, but he pushed it form his mind. He had to figure out an excuse, a way to defend himself, should the bite come up.  
“Aah Shinobu. Good to see you again.” Shinobu had almost forgotten that this was actually the second time the two had met. The first had been at his fathers christmas party; the man hadn’t spoken to him much but seemed like a cheerful, perhaps a little guarded, man. Now however Shinobu only saw a business man. somehow looking up at him from his desk, but making Shinobu feel spoken down to at the same time, his hands we clasped professionally in front of him. The image made Shinobu very nervous.  
“You wanted to see me?” Fuyuiko smiled,  
The older man leant back slightly, a smile only just gracing his lips.  
“It’s about my son, Haruhiko, and you.”  
“Oh…” if he hadn’t been confused before, he definitely was now. He had had very little interaction with Haruhiko, other than when they had gone out looking for supplies together. He seemed decent, but something was nagging in the back of Shinobu’s mind. Something wasn’t good here.  
“Yes. Do you think my son likes Misaki Shinobu?” taken aback, the boy answered  
“No, definitely not, Misaki is dedicated to Akihiko. Haruhiko seems like a good man, he wouldn’t try anything with him.” Fuyuhiko’s smile grew slightly  
“is that so? I don’t here that often. He can be quite… forceful. He knows what he wants and he knows how to get it.” The man looked away from Shinobu, back to the thing on his desk. Shinobu could see from here that it was a photo. He spoke again “I understand they went out looking for you, under his leadership. He must have thought you were quite… something.”  
“I don’t know about that. I haven’t spoken to the others that much since everything.”  
“yes you’ve been… occupied I assume.” Shinobu cringed, looking away from Fuyuhiko. So he knew about Miyagi? He didn’t want to deny it but he wasn’t sure if they were even a couple anymore. Silence was his safest option. “Oh..? Trouble in paradise, how classic. I suppose you’ve been looking for comfort…elsewhere?” Shinobu froze What on earth was going on here? Why would fuyuhiko be saying these things about him, and Haruhiko? Why was he dragging Misaki into this? His distress was showing through, he knew it, but he couldn’t control himself.  
“Misaki and Haruhiko have nothing to do with me.” he replied a little too quickly.  
“Is that so? Funnily enough I don’t believe you.” Shinobu and Fuyuhiko looked at each other from across the desk. Shinobu was missing a piece of this puzzle. Was Fuyuhiko implying that Haruhiko and he were involved? He tried to connect it logically in his mind, but it didn’t add up. Other than not speaking to Miyagi for the last day and clearly being unhappy with Misaki, he had done nothing to support this rumour. “I might get this framed.” Shinobu was drawn out of his mind by Fuyuhiko’s voice. He was holding up the photo looking at it closely “it’s nice don’t you think?” he spun it around. Suddenly Shinobu forgot their entire conversation. The room around him, the man holding the photo, nothing mattered anymore. He was in trouble, there was no way to fix it now. Why didn’t he see it before? those eyes that face, he had seen it before. “it’s nice isn’t it? taken at the christmas party last year. Akihiko looks good here, i’d like to remember him like this.”

“How is Aikawa?” Hiroki was lying on the single bed he and Nowaki shared, lazily kicking his feet against the headboard. The pair had run out of things to do, other than each other of course. Nowaki had just gotten back from checking on the aforementioned editor. The taller man smiled down at his lover, taking a seat next to him  
“she’s got a fever, but her arm should heal up soon. I think she’ll pull through.” Hiroki nodded  
“I’ll come with you and thank her next time. She did save your life after all.” Nowaki let out a sigh  
“I suppose she did didn’t she?” Hiroki stilled his feet and turned his head. They were sitting so close that Hiroki’s nose bumped Nowaki’s thigh. Hiroki had decided to throw away his pride ever since Nowaki had returned. He blushed slightly, before lifting his head into Nowaki’s lap. He closed his eyes, not wanting to see his lovers surprised but happy expression. Nowaki loved that Hiroki was being more active with him, making the first move or even just showing affection. However it still hit him hard. The reason for all of this was because of the death and destruction outside of these walls. Nowaki wanted so desperately to go and find a cure for…whatever the hell this was. He wanted to go out into the real world and find help people again. But looking at Hiroki now, his frame had shrunk slightly, a lack of food and stress was starting to take its toll, his skin was light and with his eyes closed as they were now, he looked so delicate. He would never say this but he didn’t want Hiroki to come with him. If he was going to do this, he had to go alone. “I won’t put you in danger anymore.” he thought as he ran his large hand through Hiroki’s hair. He saw his lover’s face turn redder before feeling Hiroki lean into his touch. His eyes opened, looking up at Nowaki.  
“I-”  
“I love you, Hiro-san.” the older man stared at Nowaki. He had been about to say it, but like he always did, Nowaki had read his mind. The one thing that Nowaki didn’t know was that Hiroki could read his mind a bit too. Something was eating away at him and he desperately wanted to know what it was. Nowaki’s hand moved to his cheek, cool on his burning skin. Now was not the time, he thought. Hiroki sat up, bringing his face up to Nowaki’s. He felt the hands shift to his shoulders, slowly wrapping around his back. their lips grazed slightly, their hot breaths mingling in the air. Hiroki placed a light kiss at the corner of his lovers mouth, and lightly on his lips. Hiroki had been so empty without him, the thought of losing Nowaki was enough to bring tears to his eyes. A single drop fell onto Nowaki’s skin. Suddenly he man pulled Hiroki onto his lap and crushed their lips together. Hiroki was shocked that he forgot to breathe. Cramped together on a single bed gasping for air in between heated, passionate kisses, Hiroki knew that Nowaki had read his mind again. How could he feel empty with his lover by his side? Nowaki’s tongue eagerly explored his lover’s mouth, craving the sweet taste it had almost forgotten after weeks of separation. Hiroki’s hands made their way to Nowaki’s shirt and, hands trembling attempted to undo the buttons. He gave up, frustrated and tore it open instead. Nowaki was overcome with desire, he wanted Hiroki. He pushed him back onto the bed, never breaking their kiss, and leant over him. Hiroki continued to destroy his shirt, but Nowaki didn’t care. Finally his hands found bare flesh and he sighed into his lovers mouth. Everything about Hiroki was turning him on, he had to have him. Nowaki tore off Hiroki’s clothes so quickly they may not as well have been there. He broke away form his lovers lips for a moment, leaning back to admire his lovers flawless body. Hiroki gasped and writhed slightly beneath his lover. Nowaki slowly ran his cool hands down his lovers sides. Hiroki shivered rolling his head to the side revealing a luscious plane of ivory skin. Nowaki had to have it. He leant down and took it between his teeth. Hiroki gasped and grabbed Nowaki’s hair. “Nowaki!” he cried in encouragement as his lover began to move lower, leaving a trail of red in his wake. He stopped at one hard pink nipple and took it mercilessly between his teeth. Hiroki was in heaven and Nowaki’s tongue brushed it, easing the pain of his lovers teeth. It was almost too much for him when Nowaki began to suck, hard, on the skin. He gasped and moaned. He wanted Nowaki to go lower, to relieve his pain, but he had another idea. He put his hands in Nowaki’s hair and tugged slightly. Their sign to pause. Nowaki immediately pulled away, the look of lust masked by concern  
“Hiro-san?” Nowaki asked tentatively. Hiroki sat up slowly and placed his hands on Nowaki’s shoulders and gently straddled his lovers hips.  
“Let me… do something for you.” he said, slightly out of breath. The concern disappeared, a look of love replacing it.  
“Ride me, Hiro-san.” Hiroki blushed, but nodded. Nowaki grabbed the lube from under their pillow and coated his fingers. Hiroki relaxed as he felt Nowaki penetrate him, slowly, at first, before speeding up and adding another finger. Nowaki always took care of Hiroki, preparing him until he knew his lover was ready. today was no exception, Hiroki gasped as he felt a third finger enter him, stretching and filling him. He wanted this so badly “Nowaki!” he cried.  
“Almost there Hiro-san” not a moment later Nowaki withdrew. Hiroki moaned and then  
“ah!” he felt Nowaki slide into him, a perfect match. the ferocity of before had settled, loving touches now grazing over their bruised skin replaced rough hands. Hiroki’s hands settled on Nowaki’s shoulders, giving them a slight squeeze. Nowaki laid back and Hiroki began to move. They knew each others rhythm like their own heartbeats. Hiroki rising with Nowaki gasping and moaning with pleasure. Nowaki, even at the height of pleasure himself, did not forget his lover, expertly pumping his member. Their breaths got shorter, their movements faster  
“N-Nowaki!” Hiroki moaned under his breath. Nowaki gasped in perfect unison with his lover. Hiroki moaned, arching as he climaxed. he laid on Nowaki’s chest panting and listening to his lovers heartbeat. Nowaki wrapped his arms around his lover regaining his breath. He closed his eyes and felt their breathing calm together. On the verge of sleep he heard Hiroki say, quietly  
“I love you.”

Shinobu hid himself away. He couldn’t face Misaki yet, what could he possibly say to make this ok? He put his head on his hands and drew his knees to his chest. The man he had met, with the purple eyes, was Akihiko. The same Akihiko that they had been desperately searching for. The same Akihiko who had been the source of all the tension between them from day one and Shinobu had just let him walk away. “I have to tell him. He has to know.” he said to himself, forcing back his tears. But if he told him, after their fight there is no chance that Misaki would understand. H would think he didn’t care or he would think he didn’t want Akihiko to come back. It didn’t really matter why really, the real problem was that Misaki knew too much. If he told Misaki the truth and he took it badly, there was nothing stopping the older boy from revealing his bite. He stomach turned. Not only would he be thrown out, or worse, killed, Miyagi could be hurt too. If Fuyuhiko knew about their relationship there would be no doubt in his mind that Miyagi was in on the whole thing.  
“I have…to tell him.” He had to, didn’t he, just not until the time was right. When there was a chance that he could explain everything.  
“Shinobu?” he tensed, Miyagi had come in the room. Shinobu shot up, frozen in place. Miyagi stared at him. “Shinobu!” He rushed to his side and took his face in his hands “you’re so pale.” the teenagers heart skipped a beat, but he couldn’t meet Miyagi’s eyes. Could he tell him? surely he could trust his lover not to be repulsed by him. The past 24 hours had come helped him over come his initial reaction. Miyagi loved him and would not be disgusted by him. However Shinobu was still scared of telling Miyagi, he didn’t want to worry him.  
“Shinobu I-“  
“No Miyagi, I have something to say.” The older man stayed silent as Shinobu composed himself. “S-something happened while you were away. I couldn’t help it and I was scared to tell you at first. I didn’t know how you would react.” Miyagi didn’t move  
“what happened?”  
“I went with Haruhiko and Misaki and some of the others to get supplies. I-I got separated, just for a moment…” Shinobu suddenly pulled away, turning his back to Miyagi “M-Miyagi I’m sorry there were just so many of them I thought I made it out ok but then, but then” Miyagi’s heart crashed to the floor. Shinobu clutched at his torso, shaking.  
“Shinobu” he said voice only just staying composed “show me.” Shinobu did nothing. For a moment Miyagi thought he would say no but then he began to move, taking off his T-shirt. Slowly he turned to face his lover. He couldn’t hold back a gasp. The gaping hole was too large to miss, it had blackened and congealed, an un-healing gauge from his side. “How are you not dead yet?” Shinobu tried to suppress his fear, Miyagi tried to do the same  
“this is the thing. I met some people when I was…lost.” he skipped over the part about wanting to kill himself “some of them had been bitten too but they said that I was immune.” Miyagi suddenly felt hope burst through his chest. He wasn’t going to lose Shinobu  
“are you sure? positive?” Shinobu nodded  
“they checked.” Miyagi closed the distance between them and hugged Shinobu tightly.  
“I thought you were going to die.” he sighed into his shoulder. Shinobu felt his eyes cloud over sightly. of course they could get through this together. Miyagi pulled away suddenly  
“it doesn’t hurt does it, i’m not making it worse?” Shinobu shook his head, blinking away his tears  
“No, the others told me it wouldn’t heal, but it won’t grow either.” Miyagi nodded eyes scanning the wound.  
“Miyagi can probably help us. Who else knows?” Shinobu suddenly felt the panic being to rise in his chest again. Miyagi wa involved now. He had to share everything.  
“there’s something else I need to tell you. Misaki knows. He knows everything.”  
“That’s ok, isn’t it? he’s your friend”  
“yes but it’s gotten really… complicated. When I was with the other immunes, I found Akihiko.” there was a bang form the hallway. Miyagi’s jaw dropped  
“You found him? where is he? does Misaki know?” Shinobu shook his head  
“I haven’t told him.”  
“Why?”  
“I’m scared he’ll tell people I’m dangerous…my bite. I only just found out, so I need to find the right timing.” Miyagi came close to Shinobu  
“Don’t worry, as long as he hears it from you and you explain everything, i think we’ll be ok. No one will find out.”  
“what should I say to him?” Miyagi frowned for a moment then said  
“how about you ask to see a picture of Akihiko and then just explain. Maybe pretend just a little that you’re finding out for the first time what he looks like.” Shinobu nodded  
“I that sounds good. I’d be able to explain better like that.”

In another part of the house, not far from Shinobu, Misaki himself had had some time to think. He had decided to apologise. The fight had been the result of his stress and honestly he had taken it out unfairly on Shinobu. If he ever wanted to find Akihiko and bring him to safety, he needed all the help he could get. He had seen Shinobu head towards his room not long ago and decided to head their to make his amends. As he was walking towards the hallway however, he found someone blocking his path.  
“Tanaka-san? What’s wrong?” The man, who even in the middle of a zombie apocalypse had kept his clean butler image, was looking down at Misaki, distraught.  
“I’m so sorry, I made a mistake Misaki. I think I have put Shinobu in danger.” Misaki was confused.  
“Tanaka-san I don’t understand?” The man took a step away from him running his hands anxiously through his hair.  
“Fuyuhiko saw Haruhiko kiss you.” Misaki froze.  
“Oh god.”  
“More specifically he saw Haruhiko kiss a smaller man and he saw me separate them.”  
“What are you saying, Tanaka-san?”  
“When he came and approached me, he didn’t know it was you. I wanted to protect you, you had to be here if you ever wanted to see Akihiko again, but I told him Haruhiko kissed Shinobu.” Misaki was shocked; at Tanaka’s loyalty to him, but also at his perceptiveness. The reason Fuyuhiko accepted Misaki, was because he seemed in expendable. From experience, Misaki knew that if Fuyuhiko really believed that Shinobu was involved with his last remaining son, he would not last long.  
“Tanaka-san say nothing to anyone. I’m going to talk to Shinobu. He has to be careful from now on or he might just be thrown to the zombies.” Tanaka nodded and Misaki sped down the corridor. This would be how he made amends. He would warn Shinobu, tell him to find a way to clear his name at least.  
“…complicated” he could hear Shinobu’s voice, he placed his hand on the door handle and pressed it down “when I was with the other immunes I found AKihiko.” Misaki threw his hand back hitting the wall behind him.  
“ah!” he gasped under his breath, his hand was throbbing. What was that? Misaki knew that was Shinobu’s voice. through his gasps of pain he heard “he’’ll tell people I’m dangerous… my bite.” something inside of him snapped. He sped away, not wanting to hear anymore. Shinobu had found Akihiko. He found him days ago. But he hadn’t said a word.  
“Ah!” Misaki cried. When was the las time he felt this angry. He collapsed against the wall, still holding his arm. He wanted to tell someone, anyone the truth about Shinobu. He felt tears burn his eyes. He could have been with Akihiko, he had watched him walk away, shrouded behind the glass. His only respite, he thought, was that the had survived this long. He felt his whole frame begin to tremble. As much as he let his anger surface, somewhere in his mind a voice told him to trust his friend. Told him to give Shinobu one chance to come clean and tell the truth. Just then he heard footsteps and looked up.  
“Misaki are you ok?” Shinobu asked cautiously. Misaki avoided eye contact  
“Yeah I’m fine.” He knew what he was about to hear. He braced himself for more tears  
“Misaki, I know we’ve fought but I still want us to be friends.”  
“Yeah…” Misaki nodded. Shinobu seemed relieved and offered a hand, Misaki stood  
“you know Misaki there’s been something on my mind.” Here we go “the thing is, don’t even know what Akihiko looks like, if you show me a photo then maybe we can go looking again?”  
“…yeah. There’s one in my room. I’ll get it.” Shinobu half smiled and Misaki walked away. He did not go to his room. He walked right past the door. Instead he walked through the house, up two flight of stairs until finally he was at Fuyuhiko’s door. He raised his hand.


	9. Cold Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hiatus officially OVER. All I can say is I'm sorry both for the long wait and for what I'm about to put you through.  
> WARNING THIS CHAPTER IS GORY AF.

Nowaki had spent the whole day working in the ambulance, while Hiroki helped him. An almost endless stream of patients had kept him busy, but in the back of his mind he couldn’t help but feel an ache of premature loss. He had decided to leave the house, tonight, and Hiroki wasn’t coming with him. He looked away from his patient for just a moment, his eyes seeking out the perfect form of his lover. Hiroki was leaning, eyes closed, against the wall of the ambulance. They had been working in its almost too hot interior for hours now. Hiroki hadn’t said anything but Nowaki could see he was tired. His heart ached for him. A sharp intake of breath from the stretcher they were using as a bed to treat patients brought him back to reality  
“Where does it hurt?” Nowaki was surprised, before he could even say anything Hiroki had come over to the patient “Is it the stitches? I can give you some pain killers.” He said as Nowaki watched in awe. Hiroki was so attentive now, maybe even more than before the apocalypse began. Nowaki assumed it came from the separation they went through. Hiroki had to keep his eyes open his ears pricked for any sign of Nowaki. A day or so after he arrived Hiroki told him about an excursion from the mansion  
“We went out to the town to look for supplies, pretty standard. Except when we were about to come back here we got trapped behind a pretty ferocious group of chompers.”  
“Chompers?” Nowaki had questioned, Hiroki grimaced  
“That’s what people are calling them these days. But back to the story, we were in a pretty bad place at the time. We had to wait in silence behind a burnt out car for 2 hours before they were finally all gone. I got up first and when I turned around there were still a couple of zombies dragging themselves away. They were in pretty terrible shape. You could tell that they’d died being eaten alive; they had limbs missing or nearly torn off entirely, one guy was just a head, shoulder and arm held together by rotting flesh. I decided to put them out of their misery, they were people once they deserved better than that.” Hiroki didn’t speak for a moment. Nowaki remembered that look on his face because it was a look that changed the way Nowaki viewed Hiroki forever “As I crushed his skull under my foot I thought about if one day I’d have to do that to you.” Hiroki was staring half dazed, eyes slightly damp but refusing to spill, his mouth was in a crooked line, holding back a sob that Nowaki could tell was threatening to come out. Nowaki asked him then because he thought he knew what Hiroki would say  
“If you had to, would you do it?” He didn’t look at him. Instead Nowaki kept his dry eyes firmly in front of him to give Hiroki a chance. A chance to hide the expression of confusion or despair or shock or whatever it was from him.  
“Yes.”

“Nowaki?” Nowaki blinked. Hiroki and the patient were both looking at him, slightly concerned  
“W-what?” Hiroki gestured to the table beside him  
“can you pass me the blue packet just there?” Nowaki nodded soundlessly passing it swiftly. Hiroki resumed talking to the patient but with a slight frown on his face. The pair didn’t pay each other too much attention after that. Hiroki was busy taking inventory whilst Nowaki continued to treat a near constant stream of patients. Finally, a small relief came in the form of Aikawa entering the ambulance.  
“Aikawa, you’re my next patient?” Nowaki said, relieved to see a friendly face. The red head smiled and sat across from him on the stretcher.  
“You bet. Glad to see me?” She joked. The men both smiled at her but both knew that the could relax somewhat in front of Aikawa. Hiroki actually took a seat next to him and stretched, letting out a quick yawn.  
“So Aikawa what can we do for you?” She smiled  
“Aw so it’s ‘we’ now? You two are just too cute! It’s just like in the books~” Hiroki stood up suddenly  
“YOU PROMISED YOU'D NEVER LET AKIHIKO WRITE ABOUT US AGAIN!” she grinned mischievously  
“any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental Hiroki, I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Fuming slightly Hiroki sunk back into his seat mumbling something about “intellectual property” and “invasion of privacy”. Aikawa turned her attention back to the doctor  
“My arm is giving me a really bad headache; I get tired just from standing up sometimes and I’m losing energy really easily. Is there something you can give me?” Nowaki thought about it for a moment  
“well I think the headache might be causing the exhaustion, so I’ll just give you an aspirin and something with a caffeine supplement.” He took two small boxes off the shelf behind him and passed them to Aikawa. “We’re a bit low, so would you mind taking them now and leaving the rest with us. Just in case of an emergency.” Aikawa nodded and popped the pills in her mouth.  
“Ah what would I do without you two? You’re the dream team” Hiroki laughed beside him. Nowaki smiled but that ache in his head held back his laughter. He was going tonight, no matter what. Aikawa stood up and made to leave “hey guys I think I’m your last appointment. There’s no one waiting.” Sure enough, outside the ambulance the sun was shining on a near empty courtyard. A few people were milling about the entrance to the mansion but otherwise all was peaceful outside.  
“I think we deserve a break after all those hours in there.” Hiroki suggested gleefully. Nowaki nodded and stepped down from the ambulance. The breeze was so refreshing after the stuffy air of the ambulance and Nowaki was surprised at how chilly it was. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Hiroki shiver slightly he was wearing his favourite jeans, white converse and t shirt for comfort but it was not a very warm combination.  
“I’m going to run inside and grab us some jackets. We can’t treat people if we have colds can we?” Nowaki shook his head, his protective instinct kicking in  
“I’ll go I’ve been making you get up all day.” Nowaki smiled. Hiroki looked like he wanted to say something but decided not to, Nowaki kind of had a point his legs were pretty tired. The pair watched Nowaki disappear into the house. For a moment everything was quiet. Hiroki walked to the side of the ambulance facing out to the garden, shielding him from view of the house. He was leaning against it breathing in the fresh air, when something caught his eye.  
“Hey Aikawa, I think there are survivors out there...” He walked towards the fence “Aikawa?”

Miyagi pulled on his coat (the only thing he’d managed to pick up on his way here which had turned out to be useful.) and took a walk outside the house. His hair rustled in the wind slightly. He tried to flatten it but it was being stubborn today. He rolled his eyes and gave up, although he liked it neater he knew Shinobu preferred it messy. Miyagi hadn’t minded this until he asked for a reason why and Shinobu replied “because it’s like how your hair looks after we have sex.” After that Miyagi actively refused to wear it messy. He wondered how long Shinobu would take talking to Misaki. Almost as if destiny did have a hand in their relationship Miyagi heard a familiar voice shout “Miyagi!” from the house. He looked around confused until he heard the voice again say “look up old man.” Frowning Miyagi looked up to find Shinobu leaning out of a third floor window frowning down at him  
“Hey. Are you done with Misaki” Shinobu shook his head  
“No I’m just waiting for him to come back from something.” There was a short silence in which Miyagi couldn’t help but notice Shinobu blushing. He caught the younger boys eyes and raised an eyebrow  
“Shinobu?” The boy looked away  
“I just wanted to tell you you looked sexy.” Before Miyagi could respond Shinobu shouted at him to go away and slammed the window shut. He rolled his eyes. Classic Shinobu. He pulled his coat tighter, it was cold today, and resumed walking aimlessly towards the near empty courtyard.

“Misaki you know you can tell me anything.” Fuyuhiko said calmly. Misaki was standing in Fuyuhiko’s office, but found himself hesitating. Shinobu had been a good friend to him since this whole disaster began and although they hadn’t always gotten along perfectly, there had been no bad blood between them. That was until Shinobu had betrayed him. How could he not realise it was Akihiko, and then to try and hide it from him? How could he trust someone who wasn’t honest with him? How could Shinobu have thought so low of Misaki, to assume he wouldn’t understand what happened? Misaki felt fiery tears burn behind his eyes. He took a shaky breath  
“There’s something I have to tell you, about Shinobu.” Fuyuhiko raised an eyebrow, intrigued.  
“Go on?” Misaki began to speak, keeping his eyes firmly on the ground. As he spoke he felt the anger in him ebb away but something else replaced it. The more he said the worse he felt. He had made a mistake. Ever since this zombie apocalypse began, Misaki had been unsure of himself, he had let his emotions take over logic and this is where it had gotten him. He was standing in front of the man who had tried to separate him from the love of his life, spilling the secrets of his friend. His voice faded away as this dawned on him.  
“Go on.” Fuyuhiko urged. Misaki looked up cautiously. Fuyuhiko was a snake; he wound his way around you, getting involved in every part of your life and just when you thought maybe there was still room to breathe, he suffocates you suddenly and all at once. He had done it before and he was doing it again. Misaki took a step back. He hadn’t forgiven Shinobu, but he wouldn’t cast him away yet either. Fuyuhiko seemed to sense Misaki’s change of heart and moved towards him “Misaki if Shinobu is a danger to any of us you have to tell me-” BANG. The pair spun to face the door. In front of them was a distressed Tanaka, collapsed against the doorframe.  
“They’re in.”

Nowaki ran outside when he heard the screams. People had gathered on the porch and were staring out into the drive. The ambulance was still open but Aikawa and Hiroki were nowhere to be seen. It wasn’t hard to spot what people were staring at. Not 20 meters beyond the gate maybe 200 zombies were approaching. It was finally here the horde that had been building up as it swept through the city. He had heard about the infamous excursion which almost ended with the death of the dean’s son and how large that horde had been. This had to be at least double the amount he’d ever seen in one place. He scanned the group of people on the porch for Hiroki and Aikawa but neither were there. “Hey” Miyagi joined him on the porch “What’s going on.” Nowaki said nothing. Instead he grabbed a weapon from the pile by the door, and walked out towards he ambulance.  
“Aikawa, Hiroki?” he called when he knew he was close enough for them to hear him. He heard Miyagi follow him out. Both men froze when they heard the scream. It had come from behind the ambulance. Slowly he saw it come out, the zombie. It was Aikawa. Her skin was waxy and white her eyes blank and yellowing. She jumped out and stared around her sniffing, searching for prey. She whipped her head around and crawled along the ground, as though she was possessed, both men had drawn their weapons but for some reason she wasn’t coming near them.  
“I don’t think she can see us” Nowaki heard Miyagi say. He may have been right as a few moments later she darted back behind the ambulance. “What is she doing?” he heard the other man say. Nowaki was still frozen heart racing like it never had before. He only had one question on his mind. Where was Hiroki? Slowly this time Aikawa began to remerge from her hiding spot. She was staggering slightly, still on the ground. First her feet appeared, gripping the ground and pulling her backwards. She was dragging something out from behind the ambulance, on all fours like an animal. Nowaki only registered the blood stains on her shirt as she came out again and he realised then. The blood was not her own. Her body was almost entirely visible. As she pulled back her head from behind the van, in her teeth she was dragging a leg wearing a now red pair of converse. Everything was white. He didn’t hear the screams of horror from the house or feel himself push Miyagi violently to the ground. He didn’t even register the horde closing in on the gate. All he knew was that he was crushing Aikawa’s skull with the bat he’d taken and was screaming more than he ever had. He kept hitting her, over and over, even when the life left her eyes he didn’t stop. He didn’t stop until her head may as well have been a stain on the ground. Even when there was nothing left of it to hit he kept going. Until he felt two pairs of hand s pull him away.  
“Nowaki stop!” He struggled, he could overpower them both, whoever they were if he just fought a bit longer “NOWAKI!” He felt the bat get yanked out of his hand. He spun around to find the thief and found himself looking at Miyagi and Haruhiko. He lost the energy to fight them so suddenly it was like being hit by a freight train. All the breath left his body. He stopped fighting and turned back to the scene in front of him.

What was left of Aikawa’s now unrecognisable corpse was to his left. On the right was the lifeless body of Hiroki. One of his legs had been bitten nearly to the bone below the knee, his face was untouched other than a large scrape on one side where he’d clearly fallen against the rough metal of the ambulance wall. He was still bleeding from a bite on his wrist. Nowaki staggered forward and collapsed by the body cradling Hiroki in his arms  
“H-hiro san” he felt cold tears burn his cheeks. He held his lovers form close to him, pressing a kiss to his lips as if trying to breathe new life back into him. He kept saying “Hiro-san, Hiro-san” as if he could elicit some response from the corpse. He hugged the body close head resting against the still warm chest. Thump. He froze. He must have imagined it. He waited a painfully long time head resting lightly on Hiroki’s chest. …Thump. He snapped back into doctor mode as if he hadn’t just killed Akihiko’s editor.  
“Miyagi grab the stretcher from inside the ambulance and bring it out here now. Haruhiko go inside and find Tsumori, tell him it’s urgent. If he refuses knock him out and bring him anyway.” Haruhiko watched in awe as Nowaki and Miyagi moved Hiroki’s almost dead body onto the stretcher.  
“What will you do to him? He’s been bitten.” Nowaki barely stopped to respond but Haruhiko heard him just as he slammed the ambulance door behind him  
“I’m going to keep him alive.”

Behind the ambulance the zombies had arrived. People in the house watched in horror as they began to spill into the grounds. Tanaka ran inside and made his way to Fuyuhiko’s office. He didn’t even wait to knock before he said it  
“They’re in.”


	10. Blood and fear

Everyone was screaming. Everyone was running. Shinobu was terrified. Of the roughly 200 people in the house, not a single one was calm. When the news spread almost everyone was on the 3rd floor eating. One moment everyone was laughing and sitting calmly. The next Shinobu found himself sheltering beneath a table as people fought each other to find a way out. He saw Sumi, one of Misaki’s friends, punch a woman to the ground to try and get past her but she jumped on him screaming as she did. People were just beginning to escape when he heard someone shout “THEY’RE IN THE HOUSE.”

After he heard those words he waited. He didn’t know how long, 10 minutes? Maybe less? Once everyone had left the room he emerged from his hiding place. His side began to ache his head spinning slightly, a side effect from the gaping wound on his side. He shook his head, coming back to his senses.  
“Come on Shinobu, get it together.” He grabbed the nearest weapon to him, a light but lethal machete, and quietly made his way out of the room. He did his best to ignore the body of Sumi slumped lifelessly against the wall. He should have been surprised at how quickly people turned on each other, but he supposed he would do the same to survive.  
The top floor was relatively quiet, but beneath he could still hear the voices and footsteps of people frantically trying to defend various rooms they had barricaded themselves in. Shinobu pitied them, you should never work themselves into a corner, that was the first lesson he was been taught about zombie survival.

The corridor ahead was clear, but he knew that just around the corner were two doors. One door led to the rest of the floors and to a maybe 50% chance of escape. The other door however led to the hallway which housed the emergency exits; which meant fire escapes and external stairs. He knew that those stairs led straight to the garden and straight, he was certain, to zombies.  
“So one door will kill me and one will probably not kill me.” He said out loud to himself. He turned the corner. The doors were identical. Shinobu gulped. He wanted to go out the regular route, but that would be flooded with people. This route was likely to be quieter and therefore safer. But if he chose the wrong door, he didn’t know how many zombies might be waiting for him. Shinobu grimaced. No time like the present. He pointed at the door on the left  
“eeny meeny miny mo…” So, left it was. He approached the door tentatively. For a moment he listened. There was no noise apart from his own slightly unstable breathing. Shinobu gulped and turned the handle. It took him less than a second to realise that he had chosen the wrong door. The click of the lock had alerted them to his presence and by the time the door had fully opened, they were all staring at him. 50 or so zombies had somehow crowded into the rather narrow hallway, all covered in blood, smelling and looking absolutely awful. Shinobu jumped back, retching in disgust. They began to move towards him. He scrambled for the other door, but froze. If he opened it he was only letting them into the rest of the house. He was running out of time to make a decision. Run away but risk the lives of everyone downstairs, or defend this door and potentially lose his life. He looked at the machete in his hands and let out a shout of frustration a himself.  
“Miyagi I know you can’t hear me” Shinobu grimaced to himself “but if I die here, I swear I’m going to haunt you so bad.” He gripped the machete in front of him, body tense, ready for the fight.  
“Come at me. I dare you.” Shinobu braced himself for a strike. But it never came. The zombies seemed to be avoiding him. They were walking slowly, some dragging themselves on the floor. But no matter how they moved, they kept a very obvious distance. Shinobu frowned. “Why aren’t they attacking me?” Suddenly a thought struck him, instinctively his hand went to the bite on his side. “Do they think I’m one of them..?” Tentatively, Shinobu took a step towards the door. No reaction. Another. Still nothing. By the 3rd step Shinobu was sure of his theory. He yanked the door open and threw himself inside.

This corridor was significantly emptier but he could hear the screaming clearer. Directly below him he thought he heard a sickening crunch. The longer he walked the less screaming there was. Instead the crunching and popping grew louder. When he reached the stairs he only had to peek at the carnage on the 2nd floor to realise that everyone was there was dead. Again the zombies on the floor seemed to just ignore him. He walked to the first floor without any issues and was about to descend to the ground floor when he saw it at the foot of the stairs. Rotten more bone than body, clicking and twitching on all fours. It’s shoulder blades poked above it’s head like knives, and the legs were twisted at the joints bending in more places than they should. It’s face was the worst thing he’d ever seen. All of his nightmares come to life. It was petrifying. He could hear it breathing making a sick rattling sound. Shinobu was sure he imagined it, but for a second, he thought he saw it smile. Shinobu snapped out of it when he realised what was about to happen. He dived out of the stairway and into the 1st floor corridor, just as the monster pounced on him. He sprinted for his life down the corridor ignoring the occasional chomper that tried to grab him. He had to keep running. He could hear the sickening noise of its breath, the clicking of its bones. Shinobu remembered that Fuyuhiko’s office wasn’t far from here. Maybe he could find someone or get a weapon to defend himself. It was just on the left, right up ahead. Bodies were piled by the door, but the zombies had lost interest. He ignored them and slammed his hands on the door.

~~~

“Let me in!” Misaki stood frozen in the middle of the office watching Fuyuhiko slam the door on a screaming Shinobu. Everyone inside was in shock. Maybe 15 people had piled inside desperately before Fuyuhiko had stood up and pointed a gun at the door. That stopped them coming in  
“Shinobu might not make it…” he heard someone mutter in shakily. He turned to see Mizuki and Kaoruko standing together in the corner. Misaki approached them  
“What happened out there?” They looked awful. Kaoruko’s sleeve was torn a fresh red gash visible beneath it. Mizuki was apparently unharmed but looked as though he would throw up any moment. He spoke first  
“We saw them coming, towards the front gate. We were ready with weapons on the porch and everything…” he trailed off unable to continue.  
“They broke in Misaki” Kaoruko finished. “We fought the ones at the front but we didn’t realise there were more coming in the back gate.”  
“How many?” She didn’t answer. “Kaoruko how many are there?” She met his eyes, reluctantly  
“at least 1000 and growing. They overwhelmed us so quickly we couldn’t secure the gate.” She sighed “And Misaki there’s something else I should tell you. Kamijou and Aikawa are dead.”  
Misaki grit his teeth. Before coming to the mansion he would probably have cried and felt sorry for himself. But now he was ready to fight. He had lost two friends; he would not just stand whilst he could still hear Shinobu screaming. He turned to the others.  
“I don’t know about you but I don’t want to wait here to be eaten by chompers.” He grabbed an axe which had been abandoned on the floor. “I’m going to go and save my friend.”  
“You can’t save them.” Misaki turned to see Fuyuhiko looming over him menacingly. “He’s already been bitten. The kid’s doomed. Besides, I just spoke to Tanaka. All of your friends are trapped in the ambulance. Even if you make it out of the house, you’ll never survive outside.” Misaki glared at the older man  
“We’ll never survive in here either. How long do you think you can keep them out? They can smell us already. If you stay here, you’ll be dead before dawn.” Fuyuhiko was fuming with anger  
“Boy, if you leave now you we will not let you back in. Even if you scream. Even if we can hear the crunch as they tear you limb from limb.”  
“So long as you promise you won’t let us back in.” Misaki was surprised to hear Mizuki’s voice from behind him.  
“Yeah that sounds like a good plan to me.” Kaoruko added. He felt reassured knowing he had their support. Fuyuhiko stood back in shock as the three of them approached the door. Misaki looked at the old man for the last time. They would never meet again, he knew it.  
“Akihiko is alive. Just so you know.” He turned around before he could see the expression on the old mans face. He didn’t care about the people in that room. He cared about the friend screaming just beyond the door, and the friends trapped in the ambulance. They would make it if it was the last thing he did. They pulled the door open.

~~~

“If we stay quiet they won’t know we’re here. But you have to do as I say, go it?” Nowaki stated quickly. Miyagi nodded. “We have to keep his heart beating. There’s something I have to do and it’s going to either save him or kill him. His arm wound is deep but it just missed the artery and everything else seems superficial.” Nowaki started to dig through a bag of tools as he spoke “But he has lost far too much blood and it won’t be long before his organs start to shut down. Also the bites on his leg are going to spread the infection through his body. We have to treat them.” Nowaki pulled a box of packets from the bag, each was filled with dark red liquid. Then he grabbed what looked like small flame thrower and placed it at the foot of the stretcher.  
“We need to do three things to save him, but without Tsumori we can only do two. You’re going to keep his heart beating; you’ll do it like this” Quickly Nowaki showed Miyagi the basics “until I tell you to stop. Then when Tsumori arrives, tell him to start a manual blood transfusion.” Miyagi nodded as Nowaki hooked up an IV and then turned back to the tool bag  
“What are you going to do.” Nowaki turned around with a grave look on his face. He was holding a hacksaw  
“I’m going to cut his leg off.”


	11. The Ambulance

He watched the horde move east from the top of a tall building in the centre of the city. They had been able to hold it down for a week now, it seemed safe but the group were apprehensive about staying too long, especially after what happened last time. Thankfully no one had been killed, but how they had spent nearly a month living above a nest of zombies and not even realised they’d never know. Kou sighed as he watched them move surprisingly quickly. He could have sworn they’d gotten faster  
“It’s gotten worse hasn’t it” Masamune joined the taller man at the edge of the roof. The other man sighed  
“I would jump off this roof right now if it wasn’t for Kisa.” The other man looked sideways at him  
“Yeah I’m pretty sure I’d do the same. I can’t imagine doing this without Onodera to keep me sane.”  
“I suppose it just goes to show how strong he is.” The two men looked over at the hunched figure leaning against the roof fence. Where he’d found a cigarette to dangle between his lips they had no idea  
“I couldn’t do it alone. How he hasn’t killed himself by now is beyond me.” Kou was taken aback by the older man’s comments  
“don’t say that… we don't know he’s dead.”  
“But we don’t know if he’s alive either.” The two men looked back at the man  
“I want to have more sympathy for him, but I’m too busy trying not to have an emotional breakdown.” Masamune said, he turned and walked back to the exit “don’t be long, we’re thinking of making a move before sunset.” Kou nodded. He ran a hand through his hair unable to tear his eyes away from the other man  
“Akihiko…” The grey haired man looked so vacant. Kou had sensed it, even if no one else had. It had been 12 weeks since the outbreak and about 3 weeks since the author had lost the life in his eyes. Before whenever they set foot outside his eyes were wide, aware, constantly on the lookout for his love. In the first weeks he tried to get to different places where Misaki may have been; the university, the apartment, Marukawa and even his brothers house. But every time they went there were more and more zombies, more obstacles and more reasons not to go inside. A part of Kou wanted to keep looking for the other mans sake, but a larger part of him knew that it just wasn’t safe to go into the city center anymore. You only had to look at the sheer volume of zombies on the ground to realise that. And another thing that he had refrained form thinking about was the fact that Misaki may not even be alive. Akihiko stood up and crushed the cigarette beneath his foot. To Kou’s surprise he came over to join him.  
“Are we moving out?” He asked in a monotonous voice. He nodded  
“Yeah shall we head down?” Kou turned away first, heading to the door but he felt Akihiko grab his arm “w-what is it?” he asked unsure. The author had his eyes fixed on the ground “It’s a car.” Kou said “Another survivor?” Akihiko nodded but suddenly pulled away  
“I know that car. They’re going along the north road; we can intercept them if we go now.” Kou frowned  
“Akihiko it could be a different car? How can you be sure?” The other man did not look back  
“I know it. It has to be them.”

Shinobu was running through rooms he had never even seen before. He ignored the bodies strewn on the ground, some fresh and some rotting and half eaten. None of that mattered. He could hear it’s breath and that awful clicking. He didn’t dare turn around. He ran into a dining room and saw a door up ahead. He bounded across the room and tore it open, slamming it shut behind him. Shinobu turned, to keep running, when he realised what he had run into. It was a closet. There was no way out.  
“No no no!” He turned back to the door, about to try and find another escape when he felt the thing hit the door with so much force the Shinobu had to use all his weight to stop it from opening. The force behind him suddenly disappeared and Shinobu relaxed. Maybe it didn’t know he was here. Nope. Not a moment later it hit the door again. In his shock Shinobu cried out in fear but quickly stifled his sob with his hand. It knew he was here. It knew he was trapped. It kept coming back, hitting the door over and over. The wardrobe was small enough for Shinobu to put his feet against the wall whilst his back was on the door to help keep it shut. But the longer he held that pose the weaker he became.

After Shinobu didn’t know how long of keeping the door closed his screams had turned into whimpers and sobs. That thing was still out there. It was mutated, or insane or something. What had turned it into that monster he couldn’t say, but it was strong and fast. He could only just outrun it. It hit the door again, this time hard enough to slam Shinobu’s head against the solid wood of the door.  
“Ah!” he cried out, fresh tears spilling from his eyes. How long could he do this? Why was he even trying, no one knew he was here? No one could save him now. His mind wandered to Miyagi. What was the last thing he had said to him? “I told him he looked sexy” He grimaced slightly, he was happy with that. At least Miyagi’s last memory of him would be the most Shinobu thing ever. It hit the door again. His body was fighting so much, hurting so much, but he knew his heart could take it. Shinobu knew that he was at peace with his fate, but his body wouldn’t give in just yet. So he sat, all his weight against the door, and fought the only battle he could. Who would tire first: him or the monster?

They worked their way through the bodies, killing the occasional zombie, and keeping quiet. The trio were suspicious; they had seen so many zombies come into the house so where were they now?  
“Misaki, aren’t most of these bodies zombies? If everyone was killed or trapped who killed all the ones out here?” He had been thinking the same thing. There were far too many bodies here, it can’t have been the work of the few survivors who had been trapped outside. This number of zombies would have overwhelmed them quickly. The second thing he had realised was that not only had they been killed, but their guts had been sprayed all over the walls. There were limbs thrown far away from their original bodies, intestines draped over lampshades, blood pooling in the cracks of the tiled floor. At one point Misaki had fallen painfully and landed in a pool of it  
“Oh my god. You’re drenched.” Kaoruko said in disgust. She wasn’t lying. His shirt and pants were stained red and black from the tar like blood. He shook it off  
“Come on I can hear us getting closer.”

They had been following the sound of Shinobu’s screams for about 2 minutes when they heard a new noise join them. Thump.  
“What on earth was that?” Mizuki asked. Thump.  
“I’m not sure it’s too far away to hear for sure.” He responded, uncertain. Thump. Thump. Thump.  
“I can’t here him anymore.” Misaki strained his ears, but he could hear nothing now. Only that thumping which was growing louder and louder.  
“Then we should follow that noise instead.” Kaoruko suggested. The others nodded. They walked for maybe 2 minutes more when they found the source of the noise. Kaoruko had to hold a hand over her mouth to stop herself form screaming. Misaki almost had to do the same. It was this thing that had disembowelled those zombies. It was making a terrible clicking sound. It was the stuff of nightmares. It took one ferocious jump at the door and Misaki heard, very clearly, a cry of fear.  
“Oh dear god.” Mizuki whispered  
“He’s trapped in there…” Misaki uttered “We have to kill it.”  
“I don’t know if I can.” Mizuki said. Misaki said nothing. He had no confidence whatsoever. He was going to die.  
“What are you saying. It’s not a question of whether we can or can’t do it. We have to do it. If that thing is left alone it’s just going to keep killing.” Kaoruko said bravely. “what are you, men or mice? We do this together, now, while we still have the element of surprise. Or we die trying.” They looked at her in awe. Misaki had always known she was a strong soul, but he had a whole new level of respect for her now. She didn’t falter once. Her eyes were determined. “Okay, let’s do this. We have to strike just after it hits the door.” Misaki said and Mizuki nodded. Kaoruko smiled  
“One last thing.” To Misaki’s surprise she went over and pulled Mizuki into a quick but deep kiss. Misaki blushed, averting his eyes. “I was going to do that earlier, but I wanted to wait until the most inappropriate time, just like the movies.” She pulled out her weapon and began to move in. Mizuki didn’t even have a chance to be embarrassed or express any other emotion. They approached the beast.

It still hadn’t noticed them. It tensed and ran, limbs bending inhumanly. It collided with the door and it all happened too fast. Misaki ran in and swung down heavily with his axe. The hilt buried itself deep in the zombie’s shoulder. Suddenly aware of the new enemy, it swung around and roared, opening it’s mouth far beyond the edges of it’s lips so it looked as though the head was about to fall of. Misaki felt it try to throw him off just as he pulled out the axe. He went flying, hitting the wall behind him heavily. The zombie turned to attack again but Mizuki was already going in. He didn’t need to get close, he just needed a clean shot. He fired once, twice, three times in the back but it barely slowed him down. Mizuki cursed as he fired another round. Kaoruko could see that the zombie was focussed entirely on Mizuki. She knew that if she used her weapon now, she could end it.  
“MIZUKI GET DOWN” She cried out, she jumped behind the zombie as it swung out with its menacingly sharp claws, attempting to strike the gunman. “FUCK YOU ZOMBIE.” She shouted as she flicked the switch on her flame thrower. Bright red flames consumed the monster. It screeched a painfully high inhuman noise. Misaki covered his ears, using the distraction to run to the closet door. He smashed his fist against it  
“SHINOBU IT'S ME!” It swung open suddenly. He didn’t even explain. For a moment their eyes met and the pair knew that whatever had happened before didn’t matter anymore. Misaki grabbed Shinobu’s wrist and pulled him towards the exit. The zombie was still struggling against the flames, but it’s screech was subsiding as it began to collapse to the ground. Kaoruko didn’t turn off the flames until there was no noise form the room aside from the crackling of the flames. Mizuki grabbed her arm and pulled her away  
“Let’s get out of here.” They didn’t even agree, hey just began to run towards the staircase.

Nowaki remembered the first time he’d had to treat Hiroki. It had happened by accident at the end of one of his longest shifts at the hospital. He had texted his lover from A&E telling him he’d be home in half an hour when he felt someone touch his shoulder. He turned around to see Tsumori standing by him.  
“Come with me.” He said quickly turning towards the patients ward. Confused, Nowaki had followed his superior through the hospital. He stopped outside a small single room and pushed the door open “I thought you’d want this one.”

Inside Nowaki saw a red eyed Hiroki sitting on the bed, obviously in pain. Nowaki rushed inside.  
“What happened?” He said quickly. Hiroki held up a limp right arm  
“I threw a book at a student too hard and I lost my balance, I fell onto it. I thought it was okay but…” He wobbled the useless had in front of him “I can’t even move it now.” He said ashamed. “Don’t talk down to me remember I'm still-”  
“Tsumori can you get the nurse to set up the X-ray whilst I test the patient’s reflexes? It looks like a basic sprain but I want to be sure.” Nowaki turned back to Hiroki “How long has it been like this”  
“Uh…” Nowaki had asked his questions like a doctor and Hiroki had responded like the perfect patient. Nowaki did the tests in relative silence, and examined the x rays. It was only once Hiroki’s arm was in a sling and Nowaki walked with him towards the subway that wold take them home, the the older man turned on him.

“Why did you treat me like that?” The doctor frowned  
“Like what?” He asked confused. Hiroki stamped his foot in frustration  
“I was in pain! I thought I might never write again! You didn’t even try to comfort me…” Nowaki sighed putting his head in his hands. After being together for many years, there weren’t that many things the pair didn’t know about eachother. But this was new. Nowaki had never treated Hiroki, which meant he had never seen his ‘robot mode’ as some called it.  
“Let me explain, Hiro-san, this is just a misunderstanding.” Hiroki shot him a glare but didn’t interrupt him. Nowaki continued “when I first started doing this, I would ask those kind of things, or say comforting things all the time. But then my first patient died and I realised that sometimes you shouldn’t comfort people. They know they might not make it and I don’t want to give them false hope. But also it began to hurt me emotionally.” Hiroki’s face dropped, this bit he remembered. There were days a few years ago when Nowaki would come straight home and just cry silently into his shoulder for hours.  
“If it’s really that bad we don’t have to talk about it...” Hiroki said, suddenly feeling guilty. Nowaki shook his head  
“No, I have to tell you. It’s easier for me to go into a mind set which is purely logical and not emotional. Because if I let my emotions get in the way of my work, I might just do something reckless. That’s why I didn’t say anything then. I didn’t want to hurt you more.” Nowaki had averted his eyes, avoiding Hiroki’s gaze. Suddenly he felt a hand touch his cheek. Hiroki was right in front of him  
“You could never hurt me.” He leaned up and touched his lips softly and sweetly against his lovers. Nowaki wrapped his arms around the smaller man, being careful of the bandaged arm.  
“I wish that was true.” Nowaki thought “I wish I could be someone you felt safe with no matter what.” He thought all this but all he said was  
“Hiro-san, I didn’t realise you’d gotten over your fear of kissing in public” the older man blushed and frowned as he pulled away.  
“B-baka, that was an apology. It’ll never happen again.” Nowaki followed the other man content as they entered the subway.

He ignored the noises of zombies hitting the sides of the ambulance. He barely even heard the faint screams form the house. He only saw the task ahead. Nowaki pulled on a pair of plastic gloves and reached for the scissors. He cut what was left of the leg of Hiroki’s jeans away and tried to peel it away from the already drying flesh. He tied a belt tightly just above the knee. He felt the body beneath him twitch. A sign of life. He didn’t stop. Once the fabric was clear he cleaned the skin and grabbed the hacksaw. “He just made a noise.” He heard Miyagi say but ignored him. He burnt the saw with the flamethrower to sterilise it.  
“If you’re squeamish look away now.” He said to Miyagi quickly. The other man grimaced and turned slightly away from the doctor. Nowaki took a deep breath and placed the saw against the skin  
“Nowaki…” He froze. Miyagi almost faltered with his compressions but regained his rhythm. “W-what are you...” He could barely lift his head but Nowaki saw his lover’s eyes drift down to the saw and widen “No… no…” Nowaki was still frozen. He saw the tears in his lover’s eyes. He couldn’t do it. His hand started shaking. “P-please…this will kill me” He said shakily. No. Nowaki suddenly tore his eyes away. This wouldn't kill him, the bite would. He had to do it.  
“I’m sorry.” He didn’t stop to think about it. He was going to save his patient. He held the leg down and began to saw. The screaming started almost immediately. Nowaki was sweating. He was using all the strength of his left arm to hold down his lover and the strength of his right to make deep cuts and get this done fast. After maybe 30 seconds of cutting and 30 seconds of screaming, Hiroki passed out. “Keep going on his heart.”

About halfway Nowaki realised that Hiroki was losing too much blood. It was pooling beneath the stretcher and there was already a worrying amount. “His pulse keeps dropping.”  
“We have to wait for Tsumori.”  
“What if he’s dead Nowaki?! Hiroki Is going to die if you don’t do something.”  
“Just keep his heart going for now. We can’t do anything while this leg is still infecting him.” Nowaki kept sawing until he hit bone. He looked around  
“There’s no hammer…”  
“What?”  
“I need to brake the bone, but Haruhiko took the hammer as a weapon. Think Nowaki, there’s got to be something. Damn it why did he take the hammer of all things?!”  
“Maybe because it’s an effective way to save doctors?” Nowaki spun around. The door to the ambulance was wide open. Standing in the door way were two men, breathing heavily and drenched in blood, but very much alive.

They were fighting every step of the way. Misaki was leading them, hacking his way through the zombies as fast as he could. Behind him he could hear Shinobu beating down any zombie that crossed his path. To their left Mizuki and Kaoruko were setting everything on fire. They were close to the front door now but everyone was exhausted. The 1st floor was so empty because a lot of the zombies had decided to wait for pray on the ground floor. Misaki made it first followed by Shinobu. They ran through the open door on to the porch. There were too many. Kaoruko and Mizuki joined them.  
“There ‘s so many more than I thought…” Kaoruko nodded.  
“Look there’s a trail of bodies, leading to the ambulance.”  
“That’s where the survivors are.” Mizuki said “if we make it there we can literally drive out of here.” Misaki nodded.  
“There’s no other way. Let’s just go for it.” They started moving but a voice held them back  
“Guys I can’t go with you.” Misaki spun around confused. Kaoruko hadn’t moved  
“Why?!” She opened up her jacket. Beneath it Misaki could see a deep oozing gash that was already beginning to go black. His eyes widened “How..?”  
“When that thing was about to hit Mizuki, I jumped forward to burn it, but it caught me. I’m going to turn, I can feel it.”  
“Kaoruko no!” Mizuki shouted grabbing her shoulders “You’re coming with us!” She shook her head  
“I’m not. I’m going to use the fire to distract them and you are going to run and not look back.” She shook herself free from Mizuki’s grip.  
“Don’t do this!” Shinobu shouted but it was too late. She had began to run into the horde flames spraying in to the faces of the zombies. As much as he hated himself for admitting it, it was working.  
“GO NOW” they heard Kaoruko shout. They made a run for it. Every zombie was facing her moving in on her. Misaki was bringing up the rear and Shinobu leading. Suddenly Mizuki slowed to a stop.  
“Mizuki come on!” He shook his head  
“There’s no way I’m letting her one up me like this. We die together or not at all.  
“Mizuki… don’t.” He pulled out his gun  
“Find Akihiko, tell him my last words were something really cool.” Misaki wanted to stop him, he wanted to stop them both. But he saw a zombie lunge for him in his peripheral vision. He swung his axe and killed it in one swipe. When he turned back Mizuki was gone and the flames had stopped. He didn’t have much time  
“Misaki run!” He didn’t need to hear it twice. He bolted shoving and slicing zombies left right and center. When they arrived at the door they cried out and screamed hitting it until a familiar face appeared. Shinobu threw himself at the man, tears streaming from his eyes. Misaki clambered in after him and collapsed on the floor. He looked around. Miyagi, Shonibu, Haruhiko, Tsumori, Nowaki and the surprisingly Hiroki were all inside. The professor was lying on a stretcher, clearly in the worst condition of them all. The two doctors were breathing heavily, exhausted. Only Haruhiko and Miyagi were standing.  
Miyagi pried himself out of Shinobu’s arms. He kissed his forehead before heading to the door. “We’re getting the hell out of here.”

Akihiko and the publishers stood at the side of the road in wait of the car. Masamune and Onodera were eyeing him curiously. He knew what they thought. They thought they were about to meet Misaki. And god he hoped they were. The car pulled around the corner. Just as he expected not 10 metres away from them it stopped sharply. A black haired figure emerged first and ran to Akihiko. He wrapped his arms around the silver haired man. Akihiko grimaced. He should have known. It wasn’t Misaki.  
“Takahiro, what are the chances?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please don't hate me. Also I low key have no idea about anything to do with medical procedures or surgeries so this may all be wrong but oh well!


	12. What Happened Outside

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy everyone! :D

Hiroki was being lead through the dark halls of Mitsuhashi University by Nowaki. He was soaked through after waiting for his lover for over an hour in the rain. He was trying to pull away, but Nowaki was not relenting  
“Let go of my hand! It hurts!” Hiroki tugged his arm away as quickly as he could, just managing to free himself. Both men were out of breath, exhausted from struggling against each other. Hiroki did not want to be there. Not after everything that had happened that day.

“What happened today was entirely my fault.” Nowaki said, stating the obvious. “A professor who had been very kind to me while I was studying abroad in the US arrived in Japan today and I went to the airport to meet him. I had assumed I had plenty of time, but his flight was delayed and I ended up leaving you out there to get soaked.” Hiroki couldn’t understand why Nowaki was explaining all this to him. It didn’t matter anymore. Didn’t he realise that Hiroki had given up on a clean break long ago? The excuses, the lies and the lack of communication where one thing, but dragging their break up out like this? It was too much for him. “I’m sorry, I should never have gone in the first place no matter the reason.” No Hiroki thought, it was right that he hadn’t come. He’d only have been hurt more of he’d given Nowaki another chance.  
“look, that’s none of my business.” He tore his gaze from the ground and up to his ex lover’s eyes. And then he realised that he couldn’t keep his feelings to himself. “…you vanish, without a word to go study in another country, and then reappear one day with all freaking smiles, next you’re telling me you ditched me for some last minute meeting? Don’t treat me like I’m an idiot.”

Suddenly the scene changed. Now he was at the airport, waiting for Nowaki’s flight to arrive. In his head he had planned a whole speech. He couldn’t help feeling anger but also and longing for the man. He wasn’t sure which one was going to control him yet. He approached Nowaki, who didn’t notice him right away. When he looked up and said “Hiro-san?” Hiroki opened his mouth to make his speech. But the moment he met Nowaki’s gaze, he knew that he couldn’t do it. Anger won. He had called him something like an idiot and kicked him in the head. 

The scene changed again and that was when Hiroki realised that he was not actually there. He was simply watching his memories play out; he was an outsider but could feel all the emotions as though they were fresh. He saw the note Nowaki left saying goodbye for the second time and felt pain of loss, he saw himself giving in to the younger man against his apartment door and wondered how little self esteem he must have had then to take back his former lover so easily. Was this what love had done to him? Made him a pawn to his own emotions?

No. There were good times and amazing times and times that made Hiroki feel like he was on top of the world. But he couldn’t see them. He reached out into the furthest corners of his mind but they were dark and seemed empty. Why was he only seeing the bad things? Then he started to feel something new, something real. Excruciating pain, everywhere. First he flushed hot and then suddenly freezing cold. What was happening to him. The side of his head hurt and his arm right arm felt as though it had been torn up pretty badly. The source of most of the pain however, came from just below his knee. He assumed the rest of his leg was okay as he couldn’t feel pain below there. But then… He couldn’t feel anything below there. He was close enough to consciousness to start moving. He twitched his fingers, slowly beginning to curl them in. He tilted his head left and right. He clenched his toes. His eyes flew open.

“Hiro-san!” Hiroki’s eyes darted to Nowaki. He tried to sit up but the doctor held him down “Don’t move too quickly. You hit your head and may have a concussion or bleeding-”  
“Let go.” Nowaki only pushed him back further  
“Hiro-san.”  
“Let me go and explain why I can’t feel my toes.” Hiroki said firmly, feeling tears in the corner of his eyes. Nowaki had frozen, gaze fixed on his. He looked like a deer caught in headlights.  
“Nowaki, he needs to see it for himself.” Tsumori said seriously. For a moment Hiroki thought he was going to push him down again. Then he felt the hands lift off his shoulders. He could’ve sworn Nowaki was holding his breath. Hiroki pushed himself up onto his elbows, wincing slightly, and looked at himself. He made a pitiful noise. What happened? Why couldn’t he remember anything? Who did this? Who chose this?  
“Hiro-san…” Nowaki. Hiroki looked over, eyes unreadable.  
“How?” His voice was shaking. Nowaki couldn’t look at him.  
“It was Aikawa. Her arm, the one she wouldn’t let me treat, turns out it was a bite. She attacked you Hiro-san. When I found you she was still-” he trailed off  
“She was still what?” Nowaki mumbled something “NOWAKI”  
“EATING YOU.” Nowaki’s face contorted into a mask of disgust at the memory, pain written all over it. Hiroki might have comforted Nowaki then, if he hadn’t still been in a state of shock  
“Is she dead?” Nowaki grimaced. “Nowaki why aren’t you talking to me?!”  
“Hiro-san you’re alive, surely that’s enough…” Hiroki had a strange feeling  
“Did you… Kill her?” Nowaki kept his eyes firmly on the ground, nodding slowly. Hiroki laid back. He felt the tears spill from his eyes and roll down his cheeks. It was too much; his body was hurting all over. He just wanted to sleep. He just wanted to sleep for a long time, but right now his tears were keeping him awake. He felt Nowaki take his hand and, for the first time in years, he had to fight the urge to pull away.

The other passengers in the ambulance were only half aware of what was taking place between the patient and the doctor. Their attention was occupied instead by the constant thump and crunch of bodies hitting and then falling beneath the car. Misaki was left to his own mind for the first time in days and he realised that he had to face all of the things he had been repressing. How could he face Akihiko now? Aikawa was dead, his cousins were both dead, and even Misaki had betrayed him. “We’re almost through the worst of it!” they heard Haruhiko call from the front. The voice conjured the image in his mind. He had kissed Haruhiko, willingly. Even though he had imagined him as Akihiko, that almost made it worse. And since when had he stopped calling him Usagi-ani? For the first time he had to face the fact that when he and Usagi met again, things may not be the same. 

A little apart from Misaki, Shinobu was asleep. He was sitting between his lover’s legs lol (A/N: just realised i wrote that lol in as a joke to myself. I think I'm going to keep it there ;) )and leaning back into him, the older man had his arms around him in a rare sign of public affection. Miyagi was so tired but he forced himself to stay awake. So long as he could still hear them out there he would be ready to protect Shinobu. Somehow they had survived this. But there was something endangering them now. Miyagi looked over at Hiroki. He had gone to sleep after a brief, distressed confrontation with Nowaki. His eyes drifted down to the stump which was once his left leg. He was alive, but he had been bitten and could turn at any time. They had to do something. Miyagi had a plan, but he had to convince Nowaki and he didn’t know how well that would go.

There hadn’t been any sound of zombies for about 30 minutes when they felt the ambulance slowly pull to a stop. Those who were awake grabbed their weapons and looked at the door. Haruhiko threw it open and motioned them to come outside. Miyagi nudged Shinobu’s shoulder. He moaned  
“5 more minutes…” Miyagi rolled his eyes  
“Shinobu we need to go outside.” Reluctantly the blonde pulled himself to his feet and grabbed his weapon. Misaki was already outside, but Nowaki seemed reluctant to leave Hiroki  
“Nowaki you should guard the door from out here. You need air.” The doctor looked over absently.  
“Yes… you’re right.” He joined the older man by the ambulance door. 

They had stopped in a relatively clear stretch of road surrounded by tall skyscrapers. The area was seemingly void of zombies, nevertheless everyone was on their guard.  
“We drove around here for about 5 minutes in circles but no matter what road we went past no zombie came out. We should be okay here for a while Just for some fresh air.” Tsumori said casually before walking around to the front of the ambulance to have a well rationed cigarette. Miyagi took the opportunity to approach Nowaki.  
“Hey.”  
“Hey…” He sounded tired, he looked it too; his eyes were red and swollen.  
“You really need to rest. He probably won’t wake up for a while now. The pain probably knocked him out cold…”  
“I have to watch him, if anything happens while I’m asleep I don’t think I’d be able to forgive myself.”  
“If he turns you mean?” Nowaki flinched but he didn’t say anything. Miyagi sighed, at least the doctor understood what might happen. The older man sighed and leant against the ambulance. “look I know what you’re going through better than you may imagine.”  
“What do you mean?” Nowaki asked, confusion in his voice.  
“No one knows what I’m about to tell you, but I think it’s safer that we don’t have secrets like this. Shinobu was bitten too.” Nowaki sprung up  
“What?! We have to cut it out of him now! How old is it? Why didn't you tell me before it might be too late-”  
“wait wait calm down Nowaki. There’s more” Nowaki seemed apprehensive but quietened down all the same. “He’s immune Nowaki.” Nowaki’s eyes widened.  
“How?” Miyagi shook his head  
“I don’t know. But I do know something; Aikawa’s bite was not a regular bite. Think about this, how long was she hiding it?” Nowaki thought for a moment  
“Well she said she’d been hiding for at least a 3 days when we met her and that was weeks ago… Wait so how come she didn’t turn earlier?”  
“My thoughts exactly. I saw how quickly those students turned in the university, one minute they were being attacked the next they were doing the attacking. If you ask me, Kamijoh doesn’t look as though he’s about to tear us to bits anytime soon.” Nowaki’s eyes flicked to the sleeping body of his lover. He still looked very alive.  
“It is possible that he has some kind of mutation in his genes which significantly lowers the rate at which the virus spreads.” Nowaki said hopefully  
“If you’re right” Miyagi replied “then you have maybe a month to cure this disease before it’s too late.” Nowaki’s eyes widened  
“You want me to come up with a cure? With no supplies, no computers, no hospital, nothing?” Miyagi nodded  
“You can do it though, right? For him?” Miyagi asked. Nowaki wanted to do it, but could he really? What if he got it wrong and hurt Hiroki more? Miyagi sensed the doctors trepidation “Nowaki if you’re scared of hurting Hiroki, just remember you’re not alone, you have Tsumori and all of us behind you.” Nowaki looked at his lover. He was strong, and he knew that he would have done the same for him. He nodded to himself.  
“I’ll do it. But I’ll need Shinobu’s help.” 

“Misaki.”  
“Haruhiko. What’s up?” The older Usami joined Misaki as he stretched his legs.  
“Are you alright? It looked like you had a pretty tough time getting to the ambulance.” Misaki shivered  
“Yeah, I was in the house with your father when everything happened.” Haruhiko frowned  
“Why were you with him?” Misaki looked away, still slightly ashamed  
“I’d rather not talk about it… But he was really reluctant to let us leave. So we kind of had to force him to let us go. I think I just wanted to make him angry.”  
“What did you say?”  
“I told him I thought Akihiko was alive.”  
“Is that true?” Haruhiko asked bluntly. Misaki hesitated,  
“I…I don’t know anymore. It’s been a month now and I started thinking, a while ago, that the city is only so big and that he must be coming soon. But I’m so tired now, I don’t know if my heart or my head can take it…” Haruhiko didn’t say anything. They had walked around the corner, just out of sight of the ambulance.  
“A while ago you said?” Misaki nodded “after we kissed?” Misaki’s eyes widened, he shook his head quickly, jumping away from the older man  
“No no I don't think so no haha…” He laughed it off nervously. Misaki shuffled his feet, now was a good time he supposed. “I think that was a mistake, Haruhiko.”  
“A mistake?” Misaki nodded. Haruhiko stopped walking and stood in front of the smaller man. Misaki gulped, suddenly nervous at their closeness.  
“Ha-Haruhiko I imagined Akihiko while it was happening.” Haruhiko’s expression remained unreadable.  
“Did you want to do it?” He asked suddenly. Misaki was taken aback  
“Um I don’t know.” That was a lie. He had been the one who initiated the kiss and Haruhiko, it appeared, had not forgotten this.  
“Did you enjoy it?”  
“Ugh why are you asking me these questions?! I can’t answer yes or no!” Haruhiko came closer, suddenly pulling Misaki into his arms. He lifted his chin and leant in. Their lips touched before Misaki had entirely registered what was happening. He closed his eyes instinctively. That was a mistake because when he couldn’t see he could’ve sworn it was Akihiko’s lips on his. It was almost the same. “Stop it. Please.” He whispered against the older man’s lips. Haruhiko pulled away. Misaki stepped away quickly. It was almost the same, but Haruhiko wasn’t Akihiko. He looked at the older man wide eyed.  
“Misaki, I have to tell you, because you seem not to have noticed. If you’re confused, then that means you have feelings for me. Otherwise you would have completely rejected me by now.” He moved away from Misaki and began to walk back to the ambulance. “You came to me before; I can wait for you to come to me again.” Haruhiko walked away first. Misaki watched him leave. He hated himself for not pulling away sooner. Akihiko was alive and the sooner they found him the sooner his torment would be over.

They gathered outside the ambulance. Misaki and Shinobu stood close to each other whilst the older men spoke amongst themselves. They were nodding and occasionally looking over at the pair of them. Miyagi was the only one who looked slightly worried, the others, were calm. Tsumori spoke first  
“Okay so we have a plan, but we all need to decide whether to go through with it or not.”  
“Okay let’s hear it.” Shinobu replied.  
“Okay, so we all know that when bitten you turn almost instantly. But we’ve noticed something strange about Kamijoh’s bites.” Misaki was confused  
“What do you mean strange?”  
“Well I would say it takes 2-3 minutes for the infected human to turn into a chomper. However, he has survived maybe 2 hours of infection.”  
“Which means that he may not turn for a long time.” Misaki frowned  
“But how can you be sure? Even if he doesn’t turn he will at some point.” Nowaki nodded  
“Aikawa survived about a month with her bite before she turned, and she was the one who infected Hiro-san. So we think that we have maybe 3 weeks in which to find a cure.” Their jaws dropped  
“A cure?” Shinobu said, dumbfounded  
“That’s not possible…” Misaki continued. Nowaki shook his head.  
“We think it’s possible.”  
“How?” Miyagi moved over to Shinobu  
“Well this is why we needed to come up with a plan together.” Shinobu frowned “Shinobu, they know you’re immune.” Shinobu froze eyes wide  
“You told them?” Miyagi nodded  
“I thought, it would be better if a doctor knew…” Shinobu moved away from him  
“That wasn’t your decision to make Miyagi!” Shinobu was visibly upset. He made a point of turning his back on Miyagi. The older man rolled his eyes  
“Shinobu if you help us, we could save everyone. Not just those bitten, but maybe even people who are already turned.” Shinobu looked at the others apologetically  
“It’s not that I don’t want to do it… It’s just I’m not sure if I can. I’ve never been the strongest and when it comes to surgeries I’ve always had complications.” Tsumori nodded.  
“You probably have a weak immune system. That may make it difficult to do tests, especially with the limited resources we have.” Nowaki thought about it for a moment.  
“Shinobu, how did you find out you were immune?”  
“I met some others, they told me that I was.” Nowaki smiled slightly  
“Shinobu, if you can take us to the place you met them, then we might be able to convince them to help us too.” Misaki suddenly interrupted  
“Shinobu, isn’t that the same place you saw Usagi-san?” He nodded  
“Yeah he was with the others.” Misaki’s eyes widened.  
“We have to go.” The others nodded. Nowaki noticed that Shinobu still looked nervous.  
“Shinobu, can you take us there?” He nodded slowly but avoided their gaze.

They all began to re enter the ambulance. But Shinobu grabbed Miyagi before he could go in.  
“Shinobu?” He pulled him to the other side of the ambulance and stood in front of him  
“I’m annoyed at you for telling them my secret. But I forgive you.” Miyagi raised an eyebrow  
“This isn’t like you Shinobu. I was expecting to have to pay for that one for at least a week more.” Shinobu rolled his eyes  
“Stupid old man. How could I hold a grudge in a time like this?” Miyagi grinned  
“Well you always seem to surprise me.” He laughed. Shinobu looked away, Miyagi usually would have out it down to embarrassment, but he could tell something was wrong.  
“Shinobu what is it?” The younger man shuffled his feet  
“It’s so much pressure. What if I can’t find the building? What if my blood can’t cure them? What if I was wrong and I only make this worse?” Shinobu was panicking he couldn’t control his words. Miyagi stepped forward and swept his lover into his arms. He placed a soft loving kiss to his lips. Shinobu went silent, clutching at Miyagi’s chest. They stayed like that for just long enough for Shinobu to clam down. When they broke apart however, he could only think of one thing “What if I lose you?” Miyagi caressed his cheek, wiping away his tears.  
“I swear to you, that will not happen.” Miyagi pulled Shinobu into a warm hug. Shinobu seemed better now, wrapping his arms around the older man’s waist. However, Miyagi knew that he couldn’t guarantee anything. Either one of them could die any moment, but god damn it he was going to fight for Shinobu until the very end.

On the other side of the city another group was packing up their supplies. Takahiro and Akihiko were talking a little way away from the others. They hadn’t had much chance to speak since that morning. Not 5 minutes after they were reunited, a small horde came around the corner. They could have hidden away, but there were chompers the likes of which they’d never seen before. Large, nightmarish and making terrible clicking noises. They didn’t want to stick around to find out what they were. They ran into the subway that they knew was only partially flooded, and ran along the tracks to the emergency tunnel they had secured. The stayed in there for hours, hearing the clicking get louder and feeling the ground beneath them shake. When they finally emerged the sun was going down and, thankfully, their things were still intact. Takahiro and Akihiko were in the process of loading the car when Takahiro spoke up.  
“I had hoped Misaki would be with you.” Akihiko’s heart sank. He knew that Takahiro would bring this up sooner or later  
“I had hoped he would be with you. I guess we were both wrong.” The two carried on in a slightly strained silence until Takahiro spoke again.  
“You haven’t heard anything?” Akihiko shook his head  
“Honestly the last time I saw Misaki was before work on the day of the break out. We went back to the street later but he was gone by then.”  
“What happened after that?” Akihiko sighed.  
“It’s a long story.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Coming next week... WHAT THE HELL AKIHIKO HAS BEEN DOING ALL THIS TIME!!!


	13. Akihiko, pt 1

It was 10pm and freezing cold. Two men were walking down a deserted road, their path illuminated by a scattering of warm streetlamps. The smaller of the two men began to shiver. The older man looked down at him, concerned. He looked at the man subtly, he wasn’t dressed for the weather.  
“Achoo!” He sneezed, pulling his scarf tighter.  
“Misaki? Are you okay?” Usagi came over to Misaki and put his forehead against his.  
“U-Usagi-San!” the older man rolled his eyes and straightened up  
“I was just checking your temperature. I think you have a cold coming.” He looked over his shoulder. His car wasn’t far from here “I’ll go and get the car, it’s not far now but I’ll be quicker on my own” He looked at Misaki just before he left. He didn’t want him to get worse “Here.”He unwrapped his own thick woolen scarf and wrapped it around Misaki’s neck until he had almost disappeared beneath it. “I’ll be right back”. Akihiko immediately missed the warm barrier around his neck but did not regret his decision, particularly as snow began to fall.

Not 5 minutes later he had pulled up beside Misaki. He got out of the car and looked over at his lover. He was standing eyes wide, looking up at the sky. His mouth was open in surprise, the corners just slightly upturned. The ghost of a smile on his face. His arms were stretched out in front of him as though he could cradle the snowflakes in his arms. Akihiko was mesmerized by the sight of Misaki in the snow. How could someone so beautiful really be his? A few seconds, or maybe minutes later, Misaki turned his head in surprise when he realised Akihiko was there. A wide and elated smile broke across his face when he saw the author. It made Akihiko’s heart skip a beat, how could anyone look a him like that?  
“Usagi-san! Snow!” Akihiko watched as Misaki began to chase the snow laughing as he went. The snowflakes and the stars cast a pale white glow against the sapphire sky, the warmth of the car was still radiating within him along with another warmth from his chest. It was perfect.  
“Marry me.” Misaki suddenly froze, his back facing Akihiko.   
“Sorry Usagi-san, I think I misheard you then-“ Akihiko knew Misaki would think that. He gulped then took a few tentative steps forward  
“Marry me, Misaki.” Misaki flushed an even deeper shade of pink.  
“w-we can’t” Akihiko suddenly felt nervous, scared, what was Misaki going to say? “…in Japan.” Akihiko let out a silent breath of relief  
“We’ll go to America, or England. Somewhere where it’s legal. That isn't important right now. Just, marry me, Misaki.” Akihiko’s fear didn’t entirely dissipate until he felt his lover against his lips. Akihiko tightened his arms.  
“I will marry you.”

“USAMI-SENSEI!” The author was roused to his senses. He was sitting in his office, bored and staring out of the open window. A chilly breeze was coming through, letting him know that this autumn was going to be a cold one. Aikawa was looking at him disapprovingly  
“Usami.” She said his name with a slightly different tone from before, which surprised him enough to look her way.   
“What is it?”  
“Are you really going to England? Have you spoken to Takahiro yet? Does he even know that you and Misaki are in a relationship?” Akihiko grimaced. He knew after he proposed to Misaki 8 months ago, that they had to tell Takahiro at some point. Not only to get his blessing but also, surprisingly for Misaki’s sake.

It had never been a problem in their relationship before, that Akihiko used to be in love with Takahiro. But ever since they’d begun planning their lives together on a larger scale, Misaki had become nervous. He often asked Akihiko why he hadn’t told his brother about the relationship, why he hadn’t even said he was in a relationship at all. Not many of the authors colleagues or friends even knew about Misaki. Akihiko had dismissed his concerns at first, putting them down to nerves. But maybe a month or so ago Akihiko had begun to understand, after the argument.

It was one very late night in their apartment. Misaki was scrolling through Facebook and he came across a post from his brother. It read:

I can’t believe we’ve been friends for over a decade already! Remember this pic from Kaoruko’s Middle school graduation? That was a great day! Let’s hope for another decade :D

Linked to the message was a photo of the two men and a 14-year-old Kaoruko posing in front of a camera. Takahiro had obviously taken it whilst Akihiko had been oblivious as he was not looking at the camera at all. His eyes were fixed on Misaki’s older brother. In his eyes was a loving look which made Misaki’s heart burn. He didn’t like the picture, instead scrolling down to the comments. He was surprised to see comments between his brother and lover:

Akihiko: Such a soppy post, are we celebrating a wedding anniversary..?  
Takahiro: Well we are soul mates ;)

Misaki pushed himself away from the computer. He was annoyed. Why hadn’t Akihiko commented back? They weren’t celebrating a wedding anniversary, only he and Misaki were allowed to do that. The thought of his brother being anything more than a friend to Akihiko made him upset and uncomfortable. He wanted to stress eat. He saw a box of chocolates sent by a fan and grabbed them. It was only after he’d devoured the whole box that he realized they were full of liqueur.

An hour or so later Misaki heard the door slam and jumped. Akihiko came in to the living room pulling at his tie, and plopped himself in the sofa. He was obviously tired. Misaki had thought that eating would make him feel better but in reality he only felt worse. He approached the author  
“Hey.” He said, voice monotonous. Akihiko didn’t look at him  
“Hey.” He responded. There was a deafening silence between them. Misaki had steadied himself against a table, trying to conceal his drunkenness from his lover. Why wasn’t he looking at him? Misaki thought, watching Akihiko turn a newspaper non-committedly. He frowned  
“Happy anniversary.” He said sarcastically, Akihiko turned towards him.  
“What anniversary.” Misaki flushed with irritation. Why did he look up at that but not to say hello to him? Akihiko looked at Misaki questioningly  
“You and Takahiro. Your wedding anniversary.” Misaki said snappily. Akihiko frowned closing his eyes and running a hand through his hair  
“Misaki what are you talking about?” His voice was strained. Misaki made to move forward but tripped over his feet. He caught his balance on the table next to him. Akihiko’s frown deepened “are you drunk? That’s why you’re being ridiculous, it’s just a Facebook post.” Akihiko made to walk away but Misaki stepped forward  
“unlike it.”  
“What?”  
“Unlike it. Then tell Takahiro about our relationship.” Akihiko was frozen to the spot, feeling his frustration turn to anger  
“no.”  
“Why?!” Misaki raised his voice “I hate this. I’m your fiancée but you won’t even tell him about us. In fact you don’t even mention me at all to anyone.”  
“Misaki you’re drunk. Stop talking now.”   
“No! You shouldn’t have liked it! Can’t you see the way you’re looking at him? How do you think that makes me feel?”  
“Misaki it’s just a photo it means nothing.”  
“I don’t like it. I don’t like you looking at him like you look at me.”  
“Misaki that’s old news. Stop being stupid.”Akihiko made to take Misaki’s arm, but he pushed it away.

The younger man looked up at the now angry Akihiko. He knew that in his mind somewhere, sober Misaki was screaming at him to shut up. But Misaki had had enough of sober Misaki making him timid and silent. He wanted to give Akihiko a piece of his mind. He wanted to tell Akihiko that he felt jealous. He knew only looked at him, and really loved him. But that wasn’t the problem. Why wasn’t Akihiko telling Takahiro about their relationship? Was it because somewhere, deep down, he still wanted to keep the Takahiro option open. Just in case his first love ever changed his mind and reciprocated those feelings? So long as Akihiko kept their relationship a secret to his brother, there was always the fear that Misaki would be left alone and he knew he wouldn't survive that. How could he possibly go on after loving someone like this?

“M-misaki?” Misaki hadn’t realized it but he had started crying. Akihiko realized that he couldn’t stop himself from wiping the wet marks off of his face. “Misaki why are you crying?” He sniffed  
“Why won’t you tell him about us. I know I used to want to hide it, but now that we’re getting married, and moving away, we can’t go on like this. I thought you knew it too, I kept telling myself that you’d tell him next time and the next time and then you never said anything and…” Misaki railed off, he knew Akihiko wasn’t going to like this part “I thought that you secretly still wanted him. So you wouldn’t tell him to keep that chance alive.” Akihiko had to take a moment to process his lover’s words. It was ridiculous and yet also made perfect sense.  
“That’s not the reason I’m not telling him.” Misaki blinked his tears away  
“Then why?” Akihiko sighed  
“I’m worried that he’ll take you away if I told him. I didn’t want to tell you this…”  
“Tell me what?” Akihiko sighed and stroked Misaki’s hair comfortingly  
“Takahiro doesn’t support gay marriage.” Misaki blinked up at Akihiko  
“How do you know?”  
“A couple of months ago I began talking about England, I was trying to get an idea of his reaction and…” Akihiko grimaced  
“Was it bad?” Misaki asked nervously  
“He quoted Donald Trump.” Misaki gasped. How could he brother be so ignorant? Akihiko looked at him sadly “You love your brother so much I didn’t want you to think he hated what you were. So I hid it from you.” Misaki relaxed in Akihiko’s arms. Somehow throughout the course of their conversation he had sobered up considerably but he wished he hadn’t.  
“I’m sorry. I was just…”  
“I know. I know.”

Even though a lot of the fear Misaki had had was taken away by Akihiko’s confession, it had only been replaced by the fear of rejection from his brother. And even then, living in secret was still taking it’s toll on the couple. They had decided to go to England about 4 months ago and had begun preparations to make the move. They had found a house to live in and a shipping container for the Suzuki bear collection. But Misaki had refused to move until they told Takahiro. Akihiko sighed, it was all getting too complicated.  
“Usami let’s go to the editors.” Akihiko put his problems to the back of his mind. He ha d work to do, he supposed.

They walked over to the editing department, somewhere Akihiko rarely went. Aikawa led him through the maze like corridors past various bland looking offices. “The Warbler”, “Ladies One”, “Poets Weekly”, “Emerald”. Akihiko stopped in his tracks. It was bright pink and filled with Suzuki bears. He entered the room, uninvited and oblivious of the exhausted men lying on their desks.  
“Hey who are you?” A tall man with light brown hair asked.  
“Usami Akihiko, I collect these bears.” He said gesturing at the bear calendar next to the bear mug next to the bear throw pillow. The other man frowned  
“Well I’m afraid we’re very busy, can you please leav-“ BANG. Everyone in the office jumped, suddenly alert. There were noises from above them. A moan? No, a cry? No. A scream. Out of nowhere Akihiko heard Aikawa’s voice ring from just outside the door.  
“RUN, AKIHIKO RUN NOW!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This got wayyyyyy too long so it's going to be in 2/3 parts! Enjoy :D


	14. Akihiko pt 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> woah this is loong but I think you guys have earned it for waiting!
> 
> Also I mention a fire A LOT in this story so I wanted to clarify: it is the same fire, just spreading throughout the city.

Akihiko was running faster than he ever had in his life. There were bodies piling up around him, he could hear screams and the sickening sounds of tearing flesh. It was a nightmare that would have sent any weaker person into shock. But Akihiko was focused. Misaki. The thought of finding him kept him grounded. If he could go to that convenience store and get him before one of these things did, he could die a happy man. He could hear the heavy breathing of his companions beside him, some were being dragged along others were beginning to outpace him. Aikawa was miles ahead; she dodged each oncoming corpse like a bullet, avoiding the attackers rather than engaging with them and as a result carving a safe path for those behind her. Akihiko was quick to notice her occasional looks back to the group and the wince she gave when one of them was taken out. Before he knew it they had reached the ground floor and thrown the doors open. If inside was a nightmare, then outside was hell itself.

Akihiko had studied the effects of fear on society for a novel he did in his early 20’s. He had written so many since that he had forgotten the specific plot, but one line came to the fore front of his mind in the moment. “They succumbed to terror slowly, like a poison it spread through them and they were paralyzed in moments. Like a second months past and the turn of gentle society to dust went almost unnoticed.” He hadn't realized he said it aloud. Aikawa looked over at him  
“We were wrong there.” She said surprisingly calm. The city had fallen in seconds: cars were abandoned where their owners had left them, some people had attempted to drive over the gridlock but none had made it far. People were running from a burning building across the road and corpses were moving in ever increasing numbers, closing in on those unfortunate enough to be caught between their teeth.  
“We have to go.” It was Hatori, an editor, and he was bleeding. A shorter man threw him a handkerchief and pulled him along. Akihiko followed them, trying not to imagine Misaki leading him away from the danger.

There were 7 of them when they left the building entrance. By the time they took refuge in a subway escape tunnel, there were only 5. Hatori and the shorter man, Chiaki, had made it. Takano, Onodera and someone AKihiko didn’t recognize. The unfamiliar man was cradling his colleagues head in his arms  
“M-Mino san it’s going to be okay” he said shakily  
“Hey Kisa if you lie to me you’ll get on my bad side. You don’t want to see me angry do you?” the dying man joked. He laughed coughing up blood. The other Emerald editors moved over to the be with him as he passed. Akihiko kept his distance, as did Aikawa. They watched as a solitary silence fell over the group. Aikawa lean over to him  
“Isaka and Asahina are dead.” The silver haired man stared at her in disbelief, she was avoiding his gaze “I saw it happen. Someone on the board collapsed, Asahina was helping him out when he turned. He died instantly. Naturally Isaka was quite susceptible to self-sacrifice once he had no one to live for.” Akihiko frowned  
“Aikawa, why are you telling me this?” She looked at him now, a steely look in her eyes.  
“I know you, better than you may think. You will not do anything stupid, not under my watch.”  
“I don’t know what you mean-”  
“Oh yes you do. Without Misaki you’re restless, and reckless at that. Don’t put yourself in danger like Isaka did. Your lover is out there waiting. And he doesn’t want to be reunited with a corpse.” She stood up and walked to the mouth of the alleyway.  
“We have to move. The coast looks clear enough for now.”

They walked carefully, avoiding main roads and large groups of bodies. Aikawa was from Mitaka originally, not Shibuya, so Ritsu walked ahead with her to help figure out where to go. It was a pleasant thought, finding a safe place, but none of them really had any long term plan in mind. Akihiko had one goal, and he wasn’t far from it. Just ahead Akihiko could see the crossing that would lead them to the supermarket.  
“This way.” He said, urging the others to follow him.  
“I don't think that’s a good idea. If we go left we can walk through a residential area, at this time of day it’ll be quite empty.” Akihiko frowned  
“I’m going this way, to the supermarket. I don’t care if I go alone.” Aikawa rolled her eyes  
“We just need to get someone. His fiancé is down there.” Kisa frowned to himself  
“I’ll come that way. If you’re going to the market we can get provisions.” The baby faced man looked at the others, silently coaxing them along. Not a moment later they were walking down the street. Compared to the carnage they had fought through outside the office, it was peaceful. But Akihiko felt Aikawa pull him in to an alcove and push him up against the wall, the other s swiftly followed  
“There’s a group of them over there.” Akihiko looked out. They were surrounding something, someone on the floor. It looked as though the zombies were about to pounce when an engine roared into life. A black car swung violently around the corner. There was a sudden rain of gunfire and screech of tires. Silence. Akihiko peered out just in time to see the car pull away again. Hatori stepped out  
“It appears people are resisting.” Chiaki smiled at him and took his arm  
“We’ll join them soon.” Takano looked at Onodera out of the corner of his eye  
“Do you want to comfort me like that.”  
“Do you want my fist in your mouth.” The man replied bluntly  
“That’s kinky.” He blushed. Akihiko ignored them and began to walk quickly over to the shop.

The store front was smashed up, blood stained glass was scattered on the floor. Where there was once a small crowd of zombies there was only a pile of guts and flesh chunks. An intestine was swaying sickeningly form a lamppost, blood dripping loudly onto the metal roof of a car beneath it. Only one motionless body was discernable from the red mulch, a small girl, no older than seven or eight. Her white pearly eyes stared up at the sky, motionless  
“This is horrible.” Onodera said. Takano placed a hand on his shoulder  
“Don’t look at them. There’s nothing else we can do.” The other man nodded, sniffing slightly. Aikawa looked over at Akihiko. The silver haired man was staring intently at the pile of flesh, looking for a body part that might have once been Misaki.  
“Akihiko what are you-” Aikawa began, but Akihiko saw something in the pile. He lurched forward and grabbed the scarf from beneath the child’s corpse. He ignored the fact that he was covered in guts and blood  
“This is Misaki’s I’m sure of it.” He felt someone come next to him and push him away from the bodies. It was Onodera.  
“What are you doing? You don’t know how dangerous that was! What if the infection was still active in the blood? You could have got us all-” CRUNCH. Everyone was so shocked by Akihiko’s sudden actions that they failed to notice how close Onodera was to the, now moving, child on the ground. It had bitten straight down onto his leg, cracking the bone beneath.  
“NO!” Takano shouted. He surged forward and stamped down hard on the zombie with his foot. It slackened it’s jaws and returned once more to a state of motionlessness.

After that no one said anything for a while. Onodera and Takano went somewhere on their own, saying something about not wanting to endanger the others. A lot of the editors asked them to stay but Akihiko knew that it was too dangerous. Instead he was focused on staying alive. He held Misaki’s scarf tightly in his hands; he wasn’t dead, he was sure of that, but Akihiko had just missed him by moments. The others checked the convenience store and then the surrounding shops. They were about to make their way towards Akihiko’s apartment building when someone ran out of a book store.  
“Kisa!” A young looking editor, or maybe he was a part time student Akihiko couldn’t tell, looked over. His jaw dropped  
“Yukina!” He ran over and the two hugged. They spoke quickly and then the taller man beckoned them over and into the book shop. Inside were a half dozen people barricading the doors with bookshelves. The princely man turned to the editors  
“We’re holding up here until help comes. We sent out a message just before the phone lines cut so we’re hoping someone will hear it.” The man grimaced looking at their surroundings “this is just between us, but clearly we don’t have the provisions to last long at all. If no one comes by tomorrow then I think it’d be better to go alone.” The others nodded, some voiced concerns. Akihiko spoke once they had gone quiet  
“I’m leaving, now. I have to find Misaki before it's too late.” The others sprung up  
“That’s stupid.” Chiaki said quickly “you’ll die before you find him.”  
“But he’ll die if I don’t try.” 

And with that Akihiko left the shop. He heard groans and the sound of people following him but paid them no attention. Outside a car was smoking slightly, and there was only a zombie or two coming out of the gas station opposite. He tried to figure out the direction to his apartment form here. He started walking left but found his way blocked by Aikawa, Yukina and Hatori.  
“What are you doing let me through!” He shouted at them.  
“Akihiko it’s dangerous out here. You’ll get us all killed if you do something reckless.” Akihiko rolled his eyes  
“Aikawa I don’t need your permission to do this. I only care about Misaki’s safety.”  
“What about our loved ones? Aren’t we the same?” Yukina said  
“We came out here not only to talk sense into you. But to make a promise.” Akihiko was puzzled  
“A promise?” The pair nodded  
“Help us protect Chiaki and Kisa until the rescue arrives and we’ll help you find Misaki.” Akihiko looked at them, conflicted.  
“I don’t know…” He said still thinking. How long would it take for a rescue team to come? A day or two? Akihiko sighed, he didn’t really have a choice “Fine.” He walked back inside and found a seat on the floor a little way away form the main group. He might need these people in the future, to help him find Misaki, so staying one more day here probably wouldn’t delay him at all.

He had thought that at the time. But Akihiko’s decision impacted his journey a lot more than he realized. He awoke the next morning to the smell of something rancid. Suddenly he sprang up  
“FIRE!” he shouted. The others were up in the blink of an eye. Sure enough, around them the book store was drenched in flames. They could hear the screams of the poor souls who had barricaded themselves behind shelves. Akihiko didn’t waste another second. He ran to the door and kicked it open, ignoring the thankfully small flames burning his skin. Outside the flames had engulfed the surrounding area. How had a fire this large started in a single night? It reached around turning all the buildings into walls of flames. In the road were zombies. Lots of zombies. They were moving fast towards them. The flames were behind them, the horde was ahead, there was no other option. They scattered. Aikawa ran to the right, a small but quick group of zombies close at hear heels. Hatori tore a wooden post form the ground and Chiaki grabbed a standing sign next to him and began whacking the zombies as hard as they could. Akihiko didn’t see what happened to Yukina, but the sound of Kisa screaming was enough to tell him what happened. He darted to the left and jumped over a car. He could see and opening, and it was on the way to his home. He was almost there. He passed the gas station and realized what was about to happen at almost the exact same time that it did. BOOM. He flew through the air, heard a sickening crack and saw nothing but darkness.

He might have been out for a week or for a year. It was impossible for him to tell because when Akihiko awoke he was in a windowless room with no indication as to the time or date. He tried to raise a hand to his head but he gasped in pain.  
“Yo’re concussed, and you have a lot of burns but you’re fine otherwise.” Akihiko jumped, pain swept through him once more, but he ignored it. He looked over. There were more beds in the room, one of which was occupied by a very alive Takano.  
“How on earth did you get here.” The man sighed.  
“Well I’ll be honest with you. We didn’t make it far alone. We ran in to the same horde you did. They chased us to that square just like they did to you. But the thing is, we actually wanted to catch up to you.”  
“We? Isn’t Onodera… you know?” Takano blinked  
“Dead?” Akihiko looked away “He’s alive. And there’s a chance, that the others are too.”  
“What are you talking about?” What have I missed? Akihiko thought fearfully.  
“Okay it’s a long story, so listen well.”

“Ritsu and I left intending to kill ourselves somehow…” The man ignored Akihiko’s gasp and went on “…But that didn’t work out as we planned. So I decided to stay with him until he died. He went to sleep and I waited, but it never happened. He woke up the next day, albeit with the wound still fresh and open, completely human. So we decided to come back and try to figure out some answers together. That’s when we got caught up in all this” He gestured that the room.

“But neither of us were knocked out in the explosion. Not ten minutes after the smoke had cleared, a military rescue crew came and took us away. But when we arrived, they took our blood. After that they separated you, Kisa and I from the others. They’re in a locked room at the end of the corridor, it’s guarded at all times. Kisa’s over there” Takano gestured to a bed on the far side of the room.  
“How do you know all this? Why did they take them away?” Takano sighed  
“I’ll explain, just listen okay? The others were all bitten. Ritsu on the leg, Yukina on the neck, Chiaki and Hatori on their arms. They all should have died by now, or become zombies. But none of them turned. They’re immune, Usami. And whoever is caring for us now is also experimenting on them as we speak.” Takano grit his teeth at this part. “I snuck out and waited until the guards changed. There was a glass window on the door. I saw the room inside. It’s awful.” Akihiko sat up, slower this time although he was already feeling better.  
“How do we get them out?” Takano leant closer to Akihiko, who turned his head as far as he could without wincing  
“Akihiko I have to tell you two things before we do anything.”  
“What?”  
“Aikawa isn’t with us.” Akihiko frowned  
“Well where is she?”  
“She managed to escape the horde, but that also meant she escaped the explosion. As far as I know the rescue team never made contact with her.” Akihiko released a breath he hadn’t known he was holding. Aikawa was gone, there was no one left to fight his corner over finding Misaki. He felt his mind drifting; what was he going to do now?  
“Hey. Snap out of it. You have to hear the rest, it might change things… Akihiko You were injured really badly in the explosion, I’m talking broken bones and deep cuts.” No wonder he felt so bad, Akihiko thought to himself “same as Kisa, half his neck and torso was burnt.”  
“Are you trying to say we aren’t fit to go out there?” Akihiko asked, not hiding the accusation in his tone. Takano, surprisingly, shook his head  
“No. You two are already treated and en route to recovery. But you might not be able to fight what we’re up against. When I went to see how the others were, I heard two doctors talking about a ‘mistake’ they’d made. They described a… there’s no other word for it. A monster. Which started all of this. They said something about a preventative drug gone wrong; they tried to terminate the test subjects but they reanimated as a demon like human, 7ft tall and charred as though it had been born from hell itself.” Takano said the last bit so fast he almost became out of breath. Takano had expected the author to be scared, reluctant to leave, and above all rational. But instead all he said was  
“So you want me to leave Misaki out there, alone to face that?” Takano should have known.  
“You feel so heavy because you’re sedated. Kisa was awake an hour or so ago and I saw them drug him up earlier. By tonight the drugs will have worn off and you’ll feel much better. Don’t get me wrong, you’ll still feel as though you’d been punched in the ribs, but you’ll be able to run.” Akihiko raised an eyebrow  
“Run?”  
“Well that’s the first part of the plan…” 

It had taken 5 minutes for Akihiko to make sense of Takano’s idea. It seemed good, but it was not going to be fun for him. There was a clock on the wall, 5 minutes for the plan to be told and 8 hours for the meds to wear off. And sure enough, 8 hours later on the dot a doctor entered.  
“Help me…” Akihiko moaned. The doctor put down his clipboard and came up to Akihiko, who moved his sheets. There were two fresh and bloody bites on his shoulder and neck. The doctor sprang away instinctively.  
“He’s infected get him out now!” The other, seemingly more rational, doctor shook his head.  
“No he’s like the others, he would have turned by now. He belongs with the carriers.”  
“So he won’t turn?” The other doctor shook his head as he grabbed a foldaway wheelchair  
“no. We’re protected by about 500 armed troops everywhere, well except from the kitchen, so there’s no chance that a zombie could ever get in, this bite had to have happened outside.” The one of the doctors moved Akihiko swiftly into the chair and out of the ward. Takano spoke up  
“Is he going to be okay?” The shorter one nodded  
“For now.”  
“Why don’t the guards protect the kitchen?” He pressed, knowing he was stretching his luck ever so slightly. But the guard complied  
“it backs on to a huge barbed wire fence. Only a tank could get through that.”

Akihiko was wheeled a few doors down and then led into the room. Takano had been right, it was terrible. The previous room had been well kept and was fairly sparse, this room was cluttered with rusty and menacing looking equipment, crammed in between the machines were narrow metal beds each one holding one of his companions. He grit his teeth; this was not going to be easy. Luckily the only doctor in the room was the one currently wheeling him in. He was unarmed, Akihiko knew that much, but if he made too much noise then the whole building would know something was wrong. He wheeled him up to a blood stained table which smelled a little too fresh. The doctor began to lift him out of the chair.

Being the heir of a great fortune, Akihiko had been forced to undergo rigorous kidnap training. Until this point all of the self defense lessons and interrogation training had only given him underlying trauma and made him paranoid. But now he finally saw its value. This was his chance. Akihiko head butted the doctor holding him as hard as he could. He fell down instantly. The doctor didn’t come to his senses fast enough. By the time he was opening his mouth to cry for help the author was already on him. Bang. He was out cold. Akihiko barely stopped to catch his breath. Quickly, he pulled the doctor out of view of the window and searched his pockets. He found two sets of keys, ID cards and what looked like pepper spray of some kind. Curious, Akihiko pocketed it and looked back at the room. On the beds were Ritsu, Chiaki, Yukina and Hatori all staring at him wide eyed. They were bound to the beds from their chests down with guards over their moths preventing them form speaking. Akihiko sighed in relief, at least he wouldn’t have to worry about waking them up.

He carefully disconnected the various tubes and monitors stuck in their skin and found the key to their release. When they were all standing again, Akihiko beckoned them to follow him. Checking the coast was clear, he led them to the hall and back to Takano and Kisa. He gave the other man the thumbs up and unlocked the door. The other doctor was hunched in the corner of the room, unconscious, but he wasn’t the only one. Kisa was still out cold.  
“I tried all I could but he wouldn’t wake up. I don’t know hat they drugged him with…” Takano said, sounding ashamed. Ritsu touched his arm reassuringly. Yukina pushed through and checked his lover. Once he was satisfied that the man was relatively unharmed, he gathered him into his arms.  
“I’ll carry him.” The others nodded. Takano spoke  
“We have 10 minutes until a guard comes to check on us. I was able to get directions to the kitchen out of him before I knocked him out. Once we’re there we just have to use knives from the kitchen to cut through the fence and escape.”

They made their way to the kitchens, quickly and quietly. More than once they found themselves cornered by guards, but they were becoming more confident by the minute; there were fewer and fewer guards and they took that as a sign that they were closing in on the kitchens and their freedom. Finally, they came to a corridor, at the end of which was a single door labelled “Kitchens”. It was narrow and intersected by another corridor which was impossible to see into.  
“It’s going to be tricky for us to all go at once.”  
“Yeah you can see why they don’t guard it, anything going through here could only go two at a time.” Chiaki said nervously “And that means us too.”  
“Okay. Two at a time.” Takano and Ritsu made it across fine, so did Chiaki and Hatori. Yukina struggled slightly because Kisa’s legs made him almost too wide for the corridor. Then it was Akihiko’s turn. He made it half way when he heard voices coming down the hallway.

“…I can’t believe he managed to get this place finished in time. After all they let it loose far earlier than they planned.” Someone said, Akihiko crouched as far back in the shadows as he could but kept his ears open. Another person spoke, a woman  
“Well he’s a rich man and the government wanted his students to be safe. I think they would have bent over backwards to get this place finished.” They were coming closer  
“It’s a shame, so few of them actually made it, in the end.”  
“You know I heard even his own kid barely survived the initial outbreak.”  
“That doesn’t surprise me, you know what that guy’s like, he probably would have rather the boy be eaten alive than hold him up…” They passed him. They said more but Akihiko couldn’t make out what they were saying. He jogged over to join the others in the kitchens.  
“what were they saying? We couldn’t hear.” Hatori asked  
“Whoever built this place, I think they knew this was going to happen.” The others’ eyes widened  
“Did they say who it was?” Akihiko shook his head  
“Something about students, and a son. Maybe once we’re out we can investigate more.” They relaxed slightly knowing that there were no more guards ahead of them, although they still made sure to lock the door behind them. They picked their way through tall shelves of long life food and medical supplies, Hatori and Chiaki cleverly picking up a couple of boxes as they went. After a while they found a back door. It was wide open.  
“Wow they really don’t care about security back here huh?” Chiaki said, grinning  
“Or they were doing tank repairs and accidentally caught a group of runaways.” An unfamiliar voice responded. They spun around; a female guard had a gun at their heads. “I think in this case, shoot first ask questions later.” They dived as bullets tore through the wall behind them.  
“Scatter! She can’t shoot all of us.” Takano was right but she sure was doing a good job trying.  
“I’ll be a distraction; I’ve got fighting experience. You get to the others and jump her when I say.” Before Takano could say anything, Akihiko darted out. One shot. He launched himself across the room again. Two shots. She was quick, but she wasn’t preserving her bullets. She had four left. If he ran for longer, she would shoot for longer. He took a deep breath and made a break for the door. It was double the distance. One. Two. He was getting close. Three. Almost. Four.  
“NOW!” He didn’t look back in time to see it happen, but he heard a thud, moan of pain and the skid of metal across the floor. She was down and unconscious. They did not stick around to see for how long.

“I can’t believe you still brought the food.” Takano said, a hint of laughter in his voice  
“Don’t doubt our knowledge of survival skills.” Chiaki grinned  
“Yeah, after working at Emerald for so long you get an idea of what’s going to keep you alive.” Hatori replied. They walked outside, savoring the feeling of the soft breeze on their skin. Ritsu ran his fingers along the thick wire fence  
“Damn it we’ll never get through this with kitchen knives.” He said dejectedly  
“Well we have to try.” Everyone except Akihiko began sawing at the fence. The other man frowned at the two sets of keys in his hand. Only the one in his right hand had had any useful keys on it, in fact the keys in his left didn’t even look like door keys at all. He looked up and his eyes were automatically drawn to the large tank in just outside the kitchen door  
“Hey guys.” They looked around “I don’t think knives are going to cut it.”

By the time the guards inside the facility had made it to the parking lot, they were too late. All they found was an unconscious woman, a pile of blunt knives and a tank shaped hole in their fence. Somewhere on a road leading back to Tokyo were seven men on a mission. They had seen too much, heard too much to go on like before. Akihiko still needed to find Misaki, that was indisputable. But now they had a long term purpose. Even as they saw the mysterious facility disappear on the horizon, they knew that they would see it again.

The tank made it to the outskirts of the city. Kisa woke up about half way back to Tokyo and seemed to be completely healthy. Thanks to a stroke of luck, they found a car and moved all their supplies into that. They set off for the city center and a place to hold up for a few days. Dawn was just breaking when they pulled up outside a tall office building looking over an empty crossroads.  
“If this building is clear it’ll be perfect; we’ll be able to see zombies from miles around.” They got out and searched it carefully, using the weapons they had found in the tank. Once they were certain the coat was clear they stacked up their boxes and secured the first floor.  
Akihiko was helping but he was clearly distressed. Takano cornered him  
“Are you alright?”  
“It’s just, I came here with Misaki… there’s a coffee shop down there that we used to go to.” Akihiko turned away from the other man. “I don’t know I think I’m just getting a bit desperate to see him.” The others had stopped what they were doing to listen in, but Akihiko had stopped talking, stopped even helping. He sat himself in the corner of the room and ignored the others. He needed space, the others knew that.

It took maybe an hour to completely zombie proof their hideout. It took maybe two hours before it was actually tested.  
“We should go out and scout the area.” Hatori suggested  
“Okay, but check the coast is clear first.” Takano replied as he barricaded a door leading to the fire escape.  
“Hey guys, there’s a kid out there.” Ritsu was staring out of the window into the road below. There was someone down there, a teen with dark blonde hair. “He kind of fits the description of Akihiko’s boyfriend, don't you think?” Whoever it was, he wasn’t alone for long. Almost instantly a swarm of zombies began to encroach on him from all sides.  
“Shit he’s going to be killed.”  
“Run you idiot…” but the boy stayed put. The zombies were getting closer. Too close  
“Damn it. Let’s save him.” Everyone aside from Akihiko ran outside to confront the zombies. The silver haired man simply stared out the window watching the men fight outside. His mind was whirring.

Places Misaki wouldn’t be: The store- already checked, his father’s house- he didn’t know the address and it was too far to go on foot, anywhere outside of the city, same reason.

Places Misaki could be: the apartment, his brother’s house, with Aikawa. He didn’t know why, but he had a feeling if anyone could seek him out it would be her.

He had a plan in his mind now he just needed to put it into action. He would find Misaki,

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To further clarify something: environment and Akihiko's stubbornness are probably the two main factors keeping characters apart.  
> 1\. The fire makes it hard to travel directly  
> 2\. So do zombies and lack of cars and road blockage  
> 3\. Akihiko is certain Misaki is not at the mansion, so he wouldn't waste his precious time there  
> 4\. Misaki has very little freedom to leave the mansion under Fuyuhiko before chapter 12
> 
> Basically I'm just trying to clear up some stuff. I wish I'd written the first chapters better so that this would all be clear... Oh well!
> 
> Thanks for reading :D


	15. Crossroads Unknown

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> These chapters are getting longer. Do you guys prefer more shorter chapters or fewer long ones? let me know please!

“I wish we knew where it all came from.” Miyagi’s voice rose above the sounds of flesh and bone hitting the ambulance. It was a noise they had all grown accustomed to. Haruhiko pulled his head out of his hands and looked over at the professor  
“Where what came from?”  
“The supplies, the ones that kept us all alive when we were living in the mansion.” Miyagi was driving so he didn’t directly address Haruhiko, but he responded anyway  
“My father never told me. I think everyone noticed, but he went a bit… crazy by the end.”  
“And he never said anything to you?” Shinobu poked his head around from the seat on the far right. “I mean, it seemed to me like people knew to go to the mansion.” Haruhiko grimaced  
“I think my father liked the idea of being a leader. Shame he got everyone killed.” Shinobu slumped back in his seat, he was not satisfied with the Usami’s answer.  
“Go right here.” He said flippantly. Only once or twice had they ever had to go on supply missions. Even on that first particularly awful excursion, which had caused all his misery, they only brought back a couple of essentials and definitely not enough to keep the mansion running for months. “Just stay on this road for a bit, we aren’t far now.”  
“What we really need is medical equipment, there’s only so much Nowaki and Tsumori can do with what’s in here.” Haruhiko nodded.  
“I say once we find the other survivors we head straight to a hospital.”  
“It’ll be a hard job to secure it. And we aren’t exactly in the best shape.” Shinobu said grimly. Miyagi rolled his eyes  
“You never know Shinobu, we might just surprise you.”  
“What? Two doctors, a random, some students, a cripple and an old man? Even I’d bet against us.” Haruhiko raised an eyebrow  
“He and I are the same age you know.” Shinobu had been told about a deadly aura Akihiko would give off in bad situations. As Haruhiko glared at him, Shinobu realized he was getting a taste of it right now. The ambulance began to slow down.  
“Miyagi I said keep going”  
“Yeah I know.” Miyagi pressed down hard on the accelerator “It’s cutting out. Damn it.” It was useless; a few moments later the ambulance stuttered to a halt halfway across a suspension bridge into the city.  
“Is everything alright?” They heard Tsumori call through the wall.  
“It’s cut out. I think the engine’s gone.” Haruhiko handed Shinobu a gun and motioned at him to leave the car.

Slowly they exited the vehicle and surveyed their surroundings. They had driven to avoid the zombies and gone in inconvenient routes to throw them off more than once. From Iwasaki, where the Mansion was located, they drove through Chiba and along the long road to central Tokyo. This is where they had broken down, less than half way across a long bridge. From here Shinobu could see the magnificent Tokyo skyline. With the car it would only be maybe 2 hours more, but now it would be far longer. The bridge itself was relatively clear. Not easy due to the abandoned cars and the piles of bodies, but it was too open and there were too many places where they could be caught off guard.  
“We’re too exposed.” Haruhiko had a tendency to say what everyone was thinking. Misaki and Nowaki came around from the back of the ambulance.  
“I was worried this old thing wouldn’t last.” Nowaki sighed and ran his hand through his hair, he looked ill. “I’ll do what I can, I was a part time mechanic when I was younger.”  
“Architecture does help with this kind of thing. Let me help.” Shinobu spared the two men a glance as they got to work on the car. His eyes drifted over to Misaki, who was looking at the pair intently. Shinobu waited for the young man to wander slowly over to him, as he knew he would, before he said anything.  
“If Akihiko is dead what will you do?” Misaki glared at Shinobu and elbowed him  
“Don’t say that.” For all the displeasure he was displaying, Misaki didn’t answer the question. Shinobu had noticed a change in Misaki over the past few days. He seemed on edge whenever he was left alone with Nowaki and Hiroki, or Miyagi and himself. He was lonely in more ways than one. Under literally any other circumstances, Shinobu would have made fun of his friend, but now was not the time.  
“Misaki. Walk with me.” They picked their way through the maze of cars and bodies in their immediate surroundings. “If you start to feel things you think you shouldn’t be feeling. For certain people” Misaki opened his mouth to protest but Shinobu shushed him “You can’t just repress them. It’s not healthy. You’re already hording so many thoughts, if you don’t get some of them off your chest then you’re going to explode.” Shinobu put and arm out and stopped Misaki. He knelt down and grabbed a leg from beneath the car beside them, he pulled and out came a fully grown zombie. Quickly and quietly Shinobu slit its throat.  
“Damn chompers, I hate this.”  
“You know Shinobu I’m fine, I don’t need your advice.” He spun around and walked away “or your pity.” He called back. Shinobu rolled his eyes.  
“well if anyone knows a thing or two about forbidden love it’s me, but whenever I say anything. Noooo I’m master Misaki, I know everything about love triangles” he mumbled to himself. “Stupid.”

Nowaki appeared from beneath the bonnet of the ambulance shaking his head.  
“That’s the best I can do” He stepped away “Haruhiko give it a go.” The black haired man nodded and turned the keys in the ignition. The others, excluding Hiroki, were watching hopefully from the sidelines. For split second it roared into life and then almost as quickly it sputtered into nothingness once more. There was a collective look of despair on the faces of everyone, especially Nowaki. How was he going to move Hiroki now? The decision to cut off his lover’s leg was starting to come back to haunt him. But he knew no matter how hard a burden it was for him, it would be ten times as bad for Hiroki. That thought was what kept him silent for the rest of their conversation.

Haruhiko looked far calmer than the others.  
“We have to come up with a plan. We can’t stay here for too long or who knows what might catch up to us.” He looked over at Miyagi and Tsumori “We need to find a working car if we can. Hiroki won’t make it far on foot and we won’t be leaving anyone behind. Nowaki.” The man was drawn out of his trance by the sound of his name “We should check what supplies we have. I want you to make an emergency bag, just in case we have to get out of here quick.” Haruhiko may have looked like he was ordering them around, but Misaki knew he had a strategy. Miyagi and Tsumori had long strong legs, if they saw anything they’d be back here quicker than the rest and Haruhiko new better than to try and ply Nowaki away from Hiroki. “Misaki” he jumped “Shinobu, come with me.” The two followed Haruhiko to a clear stretch of pavement next to the ambulance  
“What are we doing?”  
“I want to know what we’re up against.” They frowned  
“What do you mean?” Misaki asked. Haruhiko put his weapon on the floor and took a seat. Misaki was taken aback by this, the Haruhiko he knew would never have sat on a dirty floor. The older Usami shot Misaki a sideways glance, to his own horror, his cheeks flushed red.  
“Tell me everything you know about where we’re going and what you saw there.”  
“Weren’t you there? You all came to rescue me.” Shinobu said still sounding slightly guilty. Haruhiko shook his head  
“I was cornered in the subway entrance, I never set foot on the ground above. So I know a general direction, but I need you both for details.” So they wracked their brains, thanking back weeks trying to piece together any kind of plan they could. They all knew that the chances f finding the immunes there were very low, but it was a start. People always left trails whether they wanted to or not; trails of paper, paths of blood, bodies of zombies. All these things would point them to a cure. And to Akihiko, Misaki added quickly, realizing his brain hadn’t thought of that first. He winced at the thought but pushed it away. As much as he didn’t want to admit it, Shinobu had been right. He was getting a headache.  
“There’s one more thing I think you should know. Before we try going anywhere on foot.” Shinobu said cautiously. He looked at Misaki, eyes darkened with loss. Somehow, he knew what Shinobu wanted to say.  
“When we were in the house we saw something, something terrible.” Misaki admitted.  
“What?” Haruhiko frowned  
“It was a chomper. But twice the size of a regular one, and it didn’t seem… human.” Shinobu shuddered “It moved so fast and it was strong. It killed Kaoruko.” Haruhiko lowered his eyes, nodding his understanding  
“How can we fight them” He asked resolutely  
“It made this horrible clicking noise, like its bones and joints were rubbing together. I can't describe it…” Shinobu trailed off, eyes reddening  
“If it’s hard to think about I won’t push it. But thank you, it’s invaluable to know what we’re up against.” Shinobu nodded regaining his composure  
“I think I’m going to go and help Miyagi.” Misaki watched him leave with a heavy heart. How much did Shinobu really blame himself for Kaoruko and Mizuki’s deaths. His eyes followed his friend as he picked his way through the cars and out of sight.

“You’re really worried about him aren’t you?” Misaki looked back at Haruhiko. They were sitting on the floor with the backs resting against the ambulance. Somewhere in the distance he heard Shinobu’s animated voice drift over to them  
“I think he’ll be okay.” Misaki said, reassuring himself more than anyone. His head ached furiously, “he just has a lot to think about right now.”  
“And you don’t?” Misaki sighed  
“Yeah well… things have changed now.”  
“How so?”  
“I can see the bigger picture I suppose. I know that it's more important that we save everyone as opposed to just one man…”  
“Akihiko.” Misaki nodded, he felt a tear roll down his cheek.  
“Haruhiko, how long do I wait? How long do I put myself through this? I told you before, I’m tired. And…”  
“And what?” Misaki didn’t know whether it was right to tell Haruhiko of all people this, but he couldn’t hold it back  
“I sometimes wish he was dead. So I could have closure. I think he would wish the same…” Haruhiko stood up so swiftly he shocked Misaki  
“Where are you going?”  
“Misaki. You know I am in love with you.” Misaki blushed, nodding slightly “so why are you telling me this?”  
“To get it off my chest I suppose.”  
“No if that was the reason you could have gone to anyone else here. Misaki, I’m here for you. Always. But don’t come to me for comfort about Akihiko because I’ll only end up taking advantage of you.” He began to walk away, but Misaki sprang up  
“That never stopped you before! Why now?! Why does everyone else get the considerate Haruhiko, and I just get the arrogant one?” Haruhiko stopped and looked back at Misaki, he had that unreadable look in his eyes  
“Because I want something real with you Misaki. It’s not about stealing you from Akihiko, or tricking you or anything, not anymore. I want you to come to me.” Haruhiko walked away, heading to where Miyagi and the others were, and for he first time in his memory, Misaki saw nothing of Akihiko in the man.

Nowaki tried to focus on his task but every time he turned around his eyes instantly went to Hiroki. He was lying on the stretcher still but he had begun to stir. By the time he was moving, about to sit up, Nowaki had decided to keep his eyes firmly on the wall. He heard shuffling of sheets and then “Ah!” Nowaki whirled around just in time to catch his lover from falling  
“Hiro-san, are you alright?” Hiroki was flustered and tried to pull himself out of Nowaki’s arms. Instead he only succeeded in pulling himself closer to the doctor’s face  
“Yeah I’m fine I just… forgot.” Nowaki could almost hear his heart shatter.  
“Hiro-san” he pulled the shorter man tighter into his arms and buried his head in the crook between his neck and shoulder “I’m so sorry. I had to do it. I had to.” Hiroki was silent as the doctor began to cry and his body began to tremble. Hiroki felt empty. He wanted to comfort Nowaki and to make all his pain go away. But he couldn’t. Nowaki had saved him, but he hadn’t done it for him, he had done it for himself. They had talked about it; they’d said if it came down to it they’d end it. But Nowaki hadn’t listened. “I had to do it…” He muttered again  
“did you?” Hiroki uttered back, it was barely more than a whisper, but Nowaki heard it all the same. He loosened his grip and Hiroki pulled away, sitting on the stretcher. There was a tense silence between them, both of them were almost afraid to break it. To have the conversation that was hanging over them like the sword of Damocles. Their fate was dangling on a fine thread and if they didn’t do something, it would come crashing down around them.  
“Why did you do it?” Hiroki broke the silence  
“It was within my means to save you. As a doctor it’s my duty-”  
“Bull shit. What’s the real reason?” Nowaki frowned  
“Why don’t you believe that? We’ve been together long enough for you to know what I’m like.” Hiroki shook his head  
“This is different. Do you remember what I said to you about killing those Chompers? The ones without any limbs?” Nowaki paled, how disgustingly ironic was that story in hindsight “I said they deserved better, I said I’d do it for you.”  
“What are you trying to say? You think I should have crushed you like one of those chompers?!” Nowaki said incredulously  
“Yes. Couldn’t you tell that’s what I wanted?!”  
“But I’m a doctor I couldn't just let you die.”  
“But what if it was the other way around! I’m not a doctor! I don’t know how to save you.” He was almost shouting now. He waited for Nowaki to retort, but he had gone oddly silent. So Hiroki went on “No matter how much I would want to, I wouldn’t be able to… So what position do you think you’ve put me in now? I’m a cripple, a burden, and not only that now I owe you a debt that I can never repay.” He was crying but he didn’t care, he would get through this even if he shed an ocean of tears “Do you know how painful it is? Knowing that I could lose you and that I would be helpless to stop it?” No response. “Short answer; you don’t.” The silence returned. This time it was heavy and thick, Nowaki wanted to speak but he found his voice wouldn’t come out. He wanted to comfort Hiroki but his legs wouldn’t move. He wanted to think his way out of this, but his mind wouldn’t work.

He didn’t know how long they sat in silence for, but Nowaki had decided to go. He was scared that the longer they sat there, saying nothing, the more damage was being done. He stood up. He could feel Hiroki’s eyes on him as he finished his initial task. He gathered up the emergency supplies he thought he would need: alcohol, anesthetic, bandages among other things. Then he dug beneath a pile of old coats and blankets for his bag. It was underneath a bloody beige jacket which he tossed to the side. He heard Hiroki gasp. Nowaki looked back. The professor was looking at the jacket, eyes wide  
“Where did you find that?” Nowaki thought back to the beginning. Back when everything had been about getting back together. Despite being thrown into the nightmare of a zombie apocalypse, somehow, it seemed like a simpler time.  
“After we realized what was happening, I went to find you. Instead I found a body, wearing your jacket. It wasn’t you, but… well you can imagine what I thought.” Hiroki tore his eyes from the crumpled item of clothing on the floor and sought out Nowaki’s. He wouldn’t meet them.  
“But the blood. That man died violently, there should be so much more on it.”  
“I suppose we found him before it could get that bad.” Nowaki ran a hand through his hair “You know Hiro-san. When I found him I thought it was you. Until that point I’d told myself that I’d die with you. I would starve lying next to your corpse or I would be attacked. Either way I’d never have left your side. I did that because I knew that no matter what we were meant to be together. Then I saw that it wasn’t you and I knew that I’d made a mistake. I could never die with you, because then who would be left to save your friends? Who would be left to try and bring you back. I had to believe that if I just kept doing everything I could to keep your heart beating, or your body moving, whether you were a zombie or a human, then we could overcome this together.” He picked up the bag and swung it over his shoulder “I understand your feelings and I know that the pain I feel is incomparable to yours. But please believe me, what I did I didn’t do for me. I did it for us.” Nowaki sighed. He had run out of words. He grabbed the door handle

“Wait.” A spark of hope. Nowaki turned back to face his lover. The brunette’s eyes were wet but he wasn’t crying. Nowaki held himself back from running to his side to comfort him. He knew that might not be what Hiroki wanted. “You know you are an idiot right? A giant idiot.”  
“Yes. Hiro-san.”  
“…but I am too. I should have trusted you. I think I’m just finding it hard to cope.” Hiroki began to cry “Nowaki can you still love me like this?” Nowaki was taken aback  
“Of course. This doesn’t change anything.”  
“Nowaki I can’t promise I won’t hate you tomorrow. I-I don’t know why I’ve been acting like this... I had these dreams and they made me confused. One minute I love you and the next I can’t stand looking at you. I couldn’t tell what was real.” Hiroki looked at Nowaki expectantly through his tears “Well I can’t go to you.” Nowaki took that as his cue and knelt in front of the older man. He took his lovers hands intertwining their fingers. He brought them to his lips and pressed soft soothing kisses against the pale skin.  
“This is real.” He looked up and traced his fingers across Hiroki’s jawline and neck “I love you. That’s real.” Their lips met. Nowaki was cautious at first then he felt Hiroki pull him closer. He sat beside him on the stretcher and lifted him into his lap. He felt Hiroki wince and immediately pulled back  
“Does it hurt?” he shook his head  
“No, it’s just different.” Nowaki rejoined their lips. He traced his tongue along Hiroki’s soft lips and they parted for him. He explored his lover’s mouth it was so familiar now, he had memorized every side and surface of it. Their tongues danced as Hiroki moved against Nowaki, slowly and tantalizingly, making the doctor want what he hadn’t had in so long. He lowered his hands to the hem of his shirt and pulled it off over his head, Hiroki’s was off only seconds later. His hands traced the curves and lines that the had missed more than he cared to admit. They broke the kiss, both were in need of air, and their eyes met. Hiroki nodded, Nowaki shook his head  
“We can’t. Your wounds.” Hiroki silenced him with a kiss. He held onto his lover almost scared to let go  
“I don’t care about pain. I just need you.” Who was Nowaki to refuse him? He was a servant to the man taking over his lips. He picked up his lover and carried him to the other side of the ambulance, laying him on the blankets he’d left on the floor. There was more space, it’d be better for Hiroki like this. Nowaki kissed along Hiroki’s jawline and down his neck, leaving a small blushing love bite there for good measure. He continued marking along the milky skin until he reached a pert rosy nipple. He took it between his teeth sucking and biting.  
“Ah!” Hiroki arched into Nowaki’s touch as he moaned with pleasure. Nowaki was being overwhelmed by want for the man beneath him. He released the nipple and worked his way lower. He pulled Hiroki’s jeans off swiftly and released his blushing member. He kissed the tip and took it into his mouth. He enjoyed the quivers of pleasure he was giving his lover, and sucking harder when he found the spot that made him moan the loudest  
“Nowaki! Nowaki! Oh my god!” Hiroki was lost in a world of pleasure “Nowaki I’m coming, I’m coming!” Hiroki came in Nowaki’s mouth moaning his name. Nowaki released his lover’s member and reached for his own belt. Once his own was free he reached around to Hiroki’s entrance. Hiroki gripped on to Nowaki tighter than usual, relying on him for balance as Nowaki prepared him. They kissed as Nowaki slowly entered Hiroki. He was tight. The expression on his face as Nowaki penetrated him was almost enough to make him come right then. But he waited until Hiroki nodded before moving at all.  
“I’m ready.” Nowaki began to move inside his lover. He went slowly, supporting his wounded leg as best he could. He couldn’t believe he had survived without Hiroki’s touch for so long, as he moved he felt like he was about to melt. Heat spread through his body as Hiroki’s moans began to mix with his own sounds of pleasure. They built up to climax slowly, gasping and moving against each other feeling the pleasure building up inside them. When Nowaki hit that sweet spot he felt Hiroki tremble in his arms and new he wasn’t far off. He sped up thrusting into his lover until they climaxed together.

“Do you feel like we’re kind of just tagging along here?” Miyagi said curiously as they inspected the cars around them  
“What do you mean?” Tsumori said as he stamped the half life out of a zombie  
“Well think of it like this: Misaki and Haruhiko have their little thing going on, and of course there’s that whole Akihiko triangle to deal with. Then Hiroki lost a freaking leg and now because of him we’re all up in arms about finding a cure.”  
“That’s a pretty solid summary of what’s happened so far Old man. But I’m failing to see your point, unless you’re trying to prove you don’t have Alzheimer’s.” Shinobu said languidly  
“Don’t be a brat. But I can’t help but feel a bit, I don’t know, useless. I mean what can we really do until we find these other immunes.” Tusmori scratched his head with the hilt of his knife  
“Well I’d say I’m not useless, being a doctor and all.” He smiled “I won’t give up on being a main character just yet.” Shinobu rolled his eyes  
“You old men all have one thing in common, you’re never satisfied. Why can’t you just go from little victory to little victory. We made it out of the Mansion. Whoop! We saved Hiroki. Whoop! Doesn’t that sound better?” The two men stared at him dumbfounded  
“Shinobu we are literally stranded miles from the one place we decided we absolutely had to be.”  
“But we aren’t dead.” Shinobu said hopefully “whoop!” Miyagi shook his head at his ridiculous boyfriend. Sometimes he really questioned his sanity.

“Well I think we’re pretty much alone for the moment. Nothing we couldn’t handle.” They made their way back to the ambulance where the others were talking among themselves. They had set up a small circle of blankets around a portable space heater.  
“How’s that working?” Miyagi asked  
“The engine may be bust but the battery isn’t” Nowaki replied as he warmed his hands against the orange glow  
“Coast clear?” Haruhiko asked, they nodded “Any luck with a car”  
“None at all.” Haruhiko frowned, a lot was riding on that.  
“okay, let’s rest for tonight then. It’s too dark to find anything now.” The others nodded in agreement and joined them around the heater. They warmed themselves in silence for a little while not really saying much until Haruhiko spoke up  
“You know I was thinking” he said jokingly “if we’re the only survivors then the human race is extinct.” Misaki was shocked; it was morbid, dark and disproportionately funny. He couldn’t hold back the large laugh that burst from his chest. Soon the others joined in and after a while everyone was talking and joking with each other, almost as if they weren’t surrounded by corpses.

On the other side of the city, another group was settling down for the night. Hatori was on look out, he was supposed to be watching the street ahead, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that the danger wasn’t out there. No one had noticed it, thanks to his generally quiet demeanor, but ever since Takahiro had joined them a few days a go, Hatori had been watching him. He felt as though he had seen him somewhere before, he wanted to ask the man but he didn't trust him. How had he found them? The others had accepted it as a coincidence but not him. A man doesn't just drive right to them, with a full tank of petrol, a couple of boxes of supplies and not a scratch on him. He pinched his brows together. Something wasn’t right.  
“Hatori?” Chiaki came up to the taller man smiling  
“Sit down, I’ll take the next watch.” He nodded  
“Stay safe.”

It was getting late and people were starting to settle down to sleep. They had set up a small shelter in an empty building on the edge of the city. It was cozy enough, but it was going to be one of their more temporary homes. Hatori settled down next to Takano who yawned and went to join Onodera on in the corner of the room. Takahiro was still awake and talking to Akihiko in a hushed voice. He picked up the odd sentence  
“…we ran away… I looked for him but… She was dead before I could reach her.” They settled into an uncomfortable silence after that. Akihiko looked pained, pointedly avoiding the other mans gaze.  
“I’m tired. We’ll talk in the morning.” He said, eyes flicking up to meet the other man’s, quickly. Takahiro smiled widely and bid him good night. Takahiro looked over at Hatori, still smiling  
“You should rest; you were on watch for hours.” Hatori shook his head  
“No I’m fine. I want to know more about you. Why don’t we talk a while?” Takahiro’s smile didn’t falter  
“I noticed you didn’t warm up to me like the others. I hope we can become friends.”  
“I wonder if we can…” Hatori said curiously. Where should he start? “How do you know Akihiko?”  
“He’s my best friend, has been for years. My little brother lived in his house.”  
“Oh really. What happened to you then? Surely you guys would have looked for each other.” Takahiro sighed  
“I did. I thought that he and Akihiko would have been together, but that wasn’t the case. I went all over; the apartment, the store, his university. But I was out of luck.” Hatori frowned  
“the store?” Takahiro nodded  
“the last place he was seen, of course I would check there.” Hatori nodded turning his head to examine nothing in particular to his left  
“naturally. Although, Akihiko said the only ones who knew where he had last seen Misaki were him and Aikawa. Interesting how you knew where he was.” Takahiro’s default smile dropped, just for a moment. Hatori knew the the other man had slipped up. But Takahiro replaced his mask quickly  
“You don’t trust me all that much do you?”  
“would you? Given the circumstances.”  
“I might be a little more open minded, given the circumstances.” Takahiro said, nonchalant. Hatori wondered how much he could pry before Takahiro would stop answering entirely. But the night was late and Takahiro was on next watch. Chiaki came and Takahiro left, smiling as he took his place at the door of their camp. Hatori couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something familiar about the man.

Both groups rose before the sun. At the south side of the city, Misaki and the others were preparing for the long walk to the city center. At the north of the city Hatori was racking his brain to figure out where he had seen Takahiro before. He had seen survivors; he had watched them from a far so maybe it was then? But none of them had been in good shape, not like him. They were gathered at the entrance of their stronghold discussing plans when Hatori broached the subject again.  
“Shouldn’t we be focusing on finding Misaki?” he said, Akihiko sighed  
“I want to. But I just don’t know where to go anymore.”  
“It doesn’t help that we only know a basic description of the kid.” Kisa said “Takahiro do you have anything? A picture or something?” Takahiro racked his brain for a moment gasped  
“I do! My phone.” He grabbed his phone and showed the screen to the others. Before anyone else could have a proper look, Hatori grabbed the screen. It wasn’t Takahiro who he had seen before.  
“Hatori?”  
“I know where we need to go.” He looked up at Akihiko, he was staring at him, confused. “I saw Misaki, back when we saved that kid.” Akihiko was stunned into silence. They had a sighting, a trail. It may be old but it was a start.  
“How far are we from the area?”  
“I would say 4-5 hours on foot if we don’t run into any chompers.” Onodera chimed in. “look at the map on the phone.” Takahiro shook his head  
“It won’t work; you need wifi.” He plucked it from the smaller man’s hands. “We’re better just to work it out ourselves.” He smiled widely at Akihiko who was still stunned. He gestured at the others to follow him. The rest of the group were rejoicing in the news; it gave them a purpose for the first time in weeks. But Hatori hung back, keeping his distance from Takahiro. He could see the outline of his phone poking through his jeans pocket. One question answered; Takahiro was familiar because he was Misaki’s brother. However, one riddle still remained: how did someone who had reportedly been on the run for weeks, have a full phone battery?


	16. Turncoat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> sorry it's been so long! Another part coming soon :)
> 
> Also is anyone watching Yuri on Ice? I love it!!!

It was a surprisingly calm morning on both sides of the city. The morning sun hung behind a veil of grey mist, casting a cool light on the tall towers of Tokyo. In any other context the skyline would be a photographers dream, a breath taking sight. However, from Shinobu’s perspective, it represented the suffering he was about to endure. He was not happy, no matter how indifferent he appeared on the outside. Blood, sweat and tears lay on the path before him, now all he could do was walk into it.

The night before he had woken up screaming. The group had gotten used to night terrors, but this one was so vivid he could have sworn it was real. Miyagi held him until he’d calmed down, but he didn’t sleep a minute more after that. He hadn’t told anyone what he’d been dreaming about, he wouldn’t wish those images on his worst enemy. Kaoruko’s skin being torn from her body by the jagged rotting teeth of a dozen chompers. Mizuki’s bones being broken one by one, slowly and needlessly. Their blood was the most offensive shade of crimson he could imagine. The worst part about the terrors was the faces of the zombies performing these unspeakable acts of violence. Miyagi, Misaki, Hiroki, Haruhiko, Tsumori, his sister, his father, himself. He had been trapped by his own unconsciousness, forced to watch as he tore his friends throat apart. He was sleeping less and less, the more he was awake, the less time he would spend in his imagination. But that charm was wearing off. He had seen Kaoruko’s bloody face in the reflection of a car window, he had seen Mizuki in the corner of his eye.

Miyagi could help, but he was being too gentle. He wanted someone to slap it out of him, but he didn’t know how much good that would do. Shinobu gulped down some water and kept walking. Hiroki was using crutches for now and keeping up pretty well, but Shinobu could have sworn his skin was slightly ashier than before. Maybe it was the sunlight? Maybe if they started working on the cure soon the terrors would begin to fade…

“Hey I found something!” Tsumori called from a little way away. He had been systematically checking every decent looking car for the last 3 hours. Each one had been a no go, but now he stood, grinning, alongside a large black motorbike, big enough for maybe two people at most. “It works, have a listen to this.” He revved the engine, it made a promising rumble. Nowaki and Hiroki caught up with the others. Nowaki pinched his brows together  
“It won’t work, not for Hiro-san. The movement would be too harsh on his wounds, they could tear and reopen.” Tsumori sighed  
“damn it, I think you’re right. So what should we do with it?” No one said anything, but Shinobu saw his chance  
“I’ll go. The quicker I get there the sooner we can start work on the cure.” Haruhiko shook his head, replying  
“No we can’t do that. We need you to guide us, you’re the only one who has all the information, we have no idea who these guys are or what they look like.”  
“And if we send Misaki maybe he can be reunited with Akihiko even quicker.” Nowaki added  
“But surely it’d be better to send me and just give you directions?” The other men shook their heads. They were already moving on.  
“How about we wait until we find a bigger vehicle? I’m sure there’s something.” Miyagi said, attempting to mediate the decision. It was meant in a light hearted way, but Shinobu was shocked. How could they even think about Akihiko in a time like this? They HAD to find a cure, and the best way to do that was with him. They needed him, yet they were more willing to help Misaki, than him. Only Miyagi seemed to be considering his feelings in all this, but even then he was too peaceful and trying to play both sides. Shinobu couldn’t help but think that he was being sidelined, and that was not going to end well for anyone.

“Haruhiko should come too, as an extra precaution.” Misaki suggested “not that I need it haha…” he continued awkwardly. Haruhiko’s expression didn’t change, but Misaki wondered whether he was dreading seeing his brother. They had never gotten on well before the outbreak, would anything be different now? Misaki shook his head, forcing himself to pay attention to what the others were saying  
“Okay you two go first and wait for us there.” Haruhiko was already sitting on the bike. He scooted forward as much as possible, but it was still too cramped. Misaki was pressed right up against Haruhiko’s back. His face burned red. The older man didn’t notice. Misaki looked back quickly before Haruhiko drove away. There was always the thought ‘will I ever see them again?’ at times like this. He only hoped he would.

The other group were already on the move, unburdened by the addition of a cripple and the obstacle of distance. Akihiko and the editors were gaining ground quickly but that was not necessarily a good thing as Kisa pointed out. He and Yukina were leading the group through the subway when they came across a stairwell flooded with thick black water.

“We have to swim through.” Takano said warily. Yukina shook his head  
“But we can’t see the bottom. It could be swimming with zombies.”  
“He’s right, we can’t take the risk.” Kisa replied, taking a step away from the waters edge.  
“But you’re immune? The zombies won’t kill you.” Takahiro interjected, he was standing a little away from the others looking quizzically at them.  
“We’re immune to their bites but not to drowning. If one of us gets caught in a fight, the water will put us at a disadvantage.”  
“I agree” Takano replied he was frowning in frustration “but the surface could be swarming with chompers. Is it worth the extra risk?” No one responded. The surface was dangerous, but there was no guarantee that they were safe underground either. It seemed like everyone was waiting for someone else to make the decision for them.

Most people had their eyes cast to the ground, but Hatori had his eyes fixed on Takahiro. He was pacing nervously; his hand was stuck pointedly in his pocket. He could see the soft light of a phone screen glowing through the fabric. Takahiro looked at the group briefly and almost caught his eye, but he looked away again before Hatori could make sense of his expression. He seemed nervous. Someone spoke up  
“We can’t waste anymore time. We’ll go to the surface.” Akihiko said firmly. He turned on his heel and walked quickly back to the crumbling stairwell they had passed not long ago; he didn’t give the others a chance to protest.

In a normal world these stairs would have been a quick and safe way to exit the subway, but in the months which had passed since the apocalypse began they had fallen to disrepair. They had fallen victim to the fire which had spread through the city not long ago, leaving only a charred pile of rubble only vaguely resembling steps. On the right where there was once an escalator was a 20ft drop onto solid concrete. At random angles jagged and broken metal pipes stuck out menacingly, the thought of falling on to them was enough to make Chiaki’s stomach turn  
“Good thing we aren’t coming down.” He said to Ritsu who wasn’t looking too impressed either.  
“Yeah I suppose, but it doesn’t make going up any easier.” He was right. They had a treacherous climb ahead of them. They didn’t want to waste anytime. Takano, Hatori and Akihiko went first. They went slowly trying to establish foot holds without disturbing the rocks.  
“Takano there’s nowhere for me to go.”  
“I can’t move my hand yet hang on.”  
“Shit!” Takano’s foot fell through the rocks. Everyone froze. There was a low rumbling from beneath them and they felt the rocks shaking. It lasted only a second. Slowly Takano freed his foot.  
“It can’t handle this many people at once.” Akihiko called down to the others. “We should go two at a time.” They went up quicker from then on, but even more cautious than before.

Yukina, being the heaviest, went next, followed by Onodera and Kisa. Chiaki noticed as the others were climbing, that from the ground they couldn’t see the very top where the others were standing. It made him uneasy, what if they had just walked into an ambush of zombies and were trapped? He gulped and looked around to see if Takahiro’s presence brought him any comfort, but he wasn’t there. Chiaki frowned, he had been standing right next to him just a moment ago, where was he now? He suddenly tensed and grabbed his gun. He looked for signs of any possible undead threats, however there was nothing behind him but the dark passage from which they had just come.  
“Takahiro?” he called out softly. He heard the other call down for him to join them, but he ignored them and began to walk back the way he had come.

“Takahiro?” he called out again. It was light enough to see, but without the others he couldn’t help but feel a little blind. He stopped when he heard it, coming from just around the corner. A faint, inhuman clicking noise. Chiaki leant against the wall and listened intently. It wasn’t consistent, rapid at some points, then slower at others, occasionally it silenced entirely. His heart began to race. This was must have been what the others were talking about, the mutated zombies. He had to go. Chiaki turned and slowly began to walk away, when the sound changed entirely.

“Thank god it’s working.” Chiaki stopped, now more confused than ever. “I’ve been trying for ages, but I couldn’t get any time alone.” It was Takahiro’s voice, coming from just around the corner. It sounded as though he was talking on a phone, but that was impossible, no one’s phones worked these days.

He felt as though he shouldn’t stick around, there was something wrong here, but he couldn’t go. He had noticed how strange Hatori had been acting recently. He had tried to get him to open up when they were alone together, but he was silent as usual. Maybe if he stayed he could understand better.

“...I have to tell you something. He’s not here.” Chiaki could’ve sworn he heard someone shout through the phone “wait wait, I’m handling it I promise. I’m leading them back to the place he was last seen...yeah, yeah. They think I’m looking for him but he’s probably dead already… well they believed my story.” Chiaki couldn’t make sense of anything. Where who was last seen? Who did Takahiro think was dead? What story? Whatever the answers to those questions were, he knew he had to tell Hatori. They could figure it out together. He moved away. Click. Takahiro burst from around the corner. Chiaki was frozen in place for a moment he and Takahiro locked eyes. The friendly expression was gone, instead there was a wariness, the likes of which Chiaki had never seen before. He was tense like a lion ready to pounce. Click. They broke their gaze to look back at the tunnel behind them.

How had they missed it? Tall, charred and demon-like, it’s limbs moved in a way no human could ever even attempt. With every step it took forward one of it’s limbs seemed to dislocate itself. Click. They ran. Chiaki led the way, bolting around the corners and almost losing his balance more than once, until they found the stairwell again. He could hear the others calling their names, but not daring to come back down. Takahiro caught up with him. They scrambled up the slope, feeling the rubble moving beneath them as violently as an earthquake. Chiaki threw himself at the wall on the right and grabbed onto the metal bars. He felt one tear open his sleeve and slash his arm. “Ah!” He was holding on for dear life. He looked behind him and saw the monster was inches away, he could feel it’s breath. He braced himself for an attack. But it never came. Instead there was a great roar and the last of the rocks collapsed. He looked down. The zombie was circling the ground beneath him like predator stalking it’s prey.  
“It can’t get me form here, I’m too high.” He thought, trying to reassure himself. But then it started to climb.

Just as the ground fell away Takahiro pulled himself onto solid ground. Akihiko grabbed his arm and yanked him away from the crumbling rubble.  
“HELP!” Chiaki screamed from the stairwell below  
“CHIAKI!” Hatori ran to the edge, but Takano held him back  
“You can’t go down there! There’s no way.”  
“We have to get him out. Look.” He pointed at the drop below. Chiaki was clinging to a treacherously loose metal pipe with one arm, the other lay limp and bloody by his side. But that wasn’t the worst of it. On the wall next to him the zombie was climbing quicker with every step.  
“GUNS. NOW. DON'T LET IT GET HIM.”

They began shooting. Takano caught it in the leg, followed by Onodera in almost the same spot. It began to lose it’s footing but it wasn’t over yet. Kisa got the shoulder, Yukina missed a couple before catching a foot. Akihiko was aiming for the chest, whilst Hatori was going for head shots. Takahiro had purposefully missed every shot. He moved to the back of the group and peered over the edge, Chiaki was still hanging. He was not allowed to live, he knew too much. Takahiro looked over to make sure the others weren’t looking.

Chiaki’s vision was blurring. The pain in his arm was almost too much but the sounds of gunshots kept him grounded. He just had to wait a little more, until Hatori had killed the zombie, then he’d come get him. He looked away from the zombie, up to the exit. Takahiro was standing with his gun pointed right at him. His eyes widened. He heard the zombie roar and fall. He looked for his lover. Hatori met his eyes. His hand slipped. Bang.

“NO!” Hatori threw himself at the entrance, but Takano grabbed him “CHIAKI! CHIAKI!” he cried.  
“Hatori stop. Don’t look.” He shook off Takano and looked over the edge.  
There was no body, just a smear of blood from where the zombie had dragged the body away. Hatori ran from the edge to throw up.  
“He must have been hit. We were careless…” Ritsu said, his voice barely more than a whisper. No one else said anything. All they could hear was the whistle of the bitter wind and retching. Takahiro had moved away from the edge before anyone noticed, and pocketed his gun. No one had seen.

Hatori hadn’t moved from his place against the wall. He was staring a head blankly. He could barely hear the voices of the others becoming more and more anxious to get moving. To him they were nothing more than murmurs. Chiaki was dead. They shouldn’t have ever come back here. He shouldn’t have strayed from Chiaki’s side.

“I know everything is not ideal right now. But shouldn’t we move? The gunshots might have attracted more zombies…” Takahiro’s voice rang through his head like a foghorn. Hatori grabbed him. Before anyone could realize what was happening he had the man, dangling by his collar, over the subway entrance.  
“Hatori don’t!” Yukina yelled but he wasn’t listening. No one dared touch him for fear of what he might do next.  
“You were down there. You could have stopped this.” He snarled at Takahiro. The other mans eyes were wide and quivering  
“h-how could I have known this was going to happen? It was a freak accident, the stairs collapsed-”  
“And that zombie?! How did it even know where you were? Unless you did something stupid to lead it there?!”  
“Chiaki got scared by a noise and lost his nerve. I went after him, but when I found him that thing was already coming after us. We had to run, I’m sorry I couldn't save him but after then I was only thinking about myself.”  
“So you’re telling me you didn’t shoot him?” Hatori said, anger still burning his tongue. Takahiro flinched. Akihiko approached him and cautiously set a hand on his shoulder.  
“Let him go, Hatori.”

He hesitated. Chiaki deserved vengeance, but not like this. He had to prove Takahiro was not their ally. Destroy him mentally then, when there was no one left to protect him, hack him to bits and feed him to the zombies. He pulled Takahiro close to him  
“I blame you for this.” He stepped away from the edge and threw Takahiro onto the ground. As he walked away he heard the voice of Akihiko ask if he was okay, whilst the others helped him up. Hatori didn’t stop walking until he was almost out of sight of the others. He pulled his hand out of his pocket. The phone was intact but, frustratingly, locked. He almost had the answers, all that was in his way now was a 4 number passcode.

The others were still in a state of shock, Kisa couldn’t shake the feeling that something wasn’t right. He walked back to the subways edge. He gasped in horror  
“Look down there…” The others peered into the tunnels below. Hundreds of zombies were converging on the subway tunnel, some staggering and others running, there flaying limply by their sides.  
“Good thing we didn’t stay down there then.”


	17. Reunion

They cautiously climbed down the subway tunnel. Nowaki and Tsumori supported Hiroki, whilst Miyagi led the way. Shinobu was bringing up the rear, shaking slightly. It was dark down here, and he wasn't sure if this plan would work.  
“We have to get to one of the emergency subway tunnels. They have flood protection so the water won’t have gotten in there.” The others murmured in agreement. Shinobu didn’t say anything. Without Misaki here he couldn’t help but feel like everyone here was at odds with him. Just because they were adults and he was still a teenager, just because they were human and he was something else. Even Miyagi was getting on his nerves. They hadn’t spoken in private since the morning but Shinobu wasn’t sure if he wanted to. He was being too nice, too peaceful trying to appease everyone. He had always known that Miyagi put common sense before emotion, in that respect Shinobu’s wishes often came second or weren’t considered at all. He jumped at a sound from behind them. He looked back at the darkening passage from which they had just come. All clear. He didn’t even know why he was still scared, he had nothing to worry about, being immune and all. He looked at the backs of the men walking away from him. They should be grateful, he could leave them and they would have nothing. His eyes drifted to Miyagi. “Stupid old man…” he muttered to himself. What was he thinking? No matter how much he thought about it, he knew he could never leave.

“Here!” Miyagi shouted from the front. They had come to the main platform of the station, there were about three rows of tracks each the width of a swimming pool, all completely submerged with water, separating them from the next passageway. The water was inky black and thick with a suspicious black liquid, it smelt of body parts and damp.  
“Nowaki…” Tsumori said gravely  
“I know.” The taller man sighed. They couldn’t go this way. That water was swimming with disease and debris which would undoubtedly do irreparable damage to Hiroki. The professor seemed to sense this, he frowned in frustration  
“It’s fine. We can just be really careful…” He sounded less and less confident as he went on. He trailed off, leaving an awkward silence hanging in the air. Shinobu couldn’t stand it.

“What the hell, all you old men and no one is going to make a decision?”  
“Shinobu now isn’t a good time.” Miyagi said seriously. Shinobu rounded on him  
“I don’t know if you’ve noticed Miyagi, but we don’t have anytime! None of you are taking this seriously.” Nowaki glowered at Shinobu  
“I think you’ll find I am taking this seriously. I don't know if you’ve noticed but all the decisions we’ve made have been for the good of the group.” He interjected, bitterly. Shinobu shook his head in disbelief  
“Then why did you send Misaki and Haruhiko away? So they could continue their little love story?” Hiroki opened his mouth in protest but Shinobu kept going “Haven’t any of you noticed that the bad stuff happens when we split up? We leave the mansion, I get bit, Nowaki leave’s the ambulance, your husband loses a leg, we try and fight by ourselves and people die! What would Kaoruko and Mizuki say? We had a chance, to stick together and find a way through this together. And you guys just threw it away.”  
Shinobu was hyperventilating. He was still so worked up his heart hurt. He turned away from the others, clutching his chest.

The atmosphere had turned tense. Miyagi wanted to say something more, but he knew it wouldn’t do any good. Shinobu was only saying what they were thinking in the darkest parts of their minds, in places the sun can’t reach. To the surprise of everyone, Tsumori spoke  
“Look at the ceiling.” Everyone looked up, even Shinobu peered over his shoulder tentatively.  
“What am I supposed to be looking at?” Hiroki said, confused. Tsumori was grinning widely  
“This subway tunnel was undergoing renovations, I guess that’s why it’s so damaged, but it connects to exactly where we want to go. Cons: it’s flooded and there’s seemingly no way across. Pros: They left the pipework exposed.” He pointed up, sure enough the tiles only covered a tiny portion of the ceiling space. The rest was a maze of exposed metal pipes, most of which looked strong enough to hold the weight of a human. “We can climb across.”

It was not as easy as it looked. After doing some test jumps over solid ground, they found that some of the pipes fell away as though they were made of paper, whilst others were just too wide to grip on to. The only lucky thing on their side was adrenaline, their hearts were beating so loud they were almost audible. Tsumori went first, jumping up and grabbing onto the first pipe.  
“It’s secure.” He called back in a strained voice. The others followed with Nowaki bringing up the rear. He was surprised to find that it wasn’t as hard as it first appeared. He kept a constant eye on Hiroki but he too seemed to be okay for now. The hardest part was dangling whilst they waited for Tsumori to figure out the next safe route. It put so much strain on his arms he almost lost his grip more than once. He looked down at the inky black water to try and focus his mind. He followed the ripples and waves on the surface back and forth. Nowaki’s eyes widened.  
“Tsumori. Don't move.” He shouted. Hiroki turned around to stare at him  
“What is it?” Nowaki was still looking at the water  
“The water’s moving.”  
“The water’s…” Tsumori looked down, puzzled “…but there’s no current?”  
“So what’s making it move?” The looked at each other wide eyed. No one moved. Then they heard it. A rumbling, like a stampede, approaching fast.  
“What should we do?” Tsumori called back  
“I’m thinking! We’re too far to go back now” Nowaki looked around desperately for an answer.  
“Get on top of the pipes. If we’re quiet enough they might not look up.”

They waited with baited breath as they heard the horde approaching. It only took a moment for the horde to find them. It was far more than a hundred. They staggered into the atrium. Some ran straight into the water, whilst others slowly stumbled into the murky depths. They were almost human. They kept wandering into the perilous water, regardless of traffic and soon the bodies began to pile up. None of them were dying, they couldn’t, instead they just flayed about in the water like children who couldn’t swim. It appeared that none of them had looked up yet. Shinobu looked away at Miyagi tentatively. He was staring right back at him. Shinobu broke his gaze and looked at the exit. There weren’t that many zombies there now, but was it okay to move, given the horrors that awaited them if they fell? Shinobu heard it first. A sound he could not forget. The click of bones and flesh.

“Miyagi. We have to go.” Shinobu said as quietly as he could  
“Shh. I know. Don't panic.” Miyagi was wracking his brain for inspiration. This was the closest they had come to actually dying. It would only take one wrong move and they’d fall into the mouths of undead predators. He turned his head, trying to come up with something. It was as though god had sent down a bright star to guide them, or, well, a neon glowing emergency exit sign above Miyagi’s head. He stared at it wide eyed. The sign clearly said exit, but where was the door? His eyes searched frantically, hyper-aware of the gnashing jaws below. He spotted it, a human sized hatch in the ceiling just next to Hiroki’s shoulder. It was their only hope  
“Kamijoh.” He whispered as loudly as he dared. The man looked over, he too was pale as a ghost. Miyagi pointed to the sign and then to the hatch. A look of realization dawned on him, his eyes wide and alert at the prospect of escape. Miyagi watched as he mimed the message onto the others. He saw them nod. Now they just had to go for it. But there was one last thing, something he should have done before all of this. Carefully, he stretched his hand out and touched Shinobu’s arm. He jumped but regained his composure almost immediately. Shinobu’s eyes were glassy with fretful tears. Miyagi had never wanted to kiss them away more than right then. But they had to go.

He moved quickly but carefully. He slid back into a hanging postion, but kept his legs curled closely to him. It made moving unmeasurably harder, but somehow through sheer will power he made it to the hatch. Hiroki had managed to free an arm and with Miyagi’s help they pushed as hard as they could. It came off with a terrifyingly loud pop, which no one had anticipated. For a moment everyone was still, Miyagi’s eyes drifted down to the horde below. They hadn’t noticed. Miyagi pushed the hatch to the side and revealing a dark but large opening. He was about to go through when he noticed Hiroki shaking. He was pale and ashen looking. Blood was beginning to weep through the dressing on his leg.  
“Kamijoh, you first.” Miyagi knew that in any other context, the professor would have stubbornly denied his offer, but even he knew he couldn’t go on like this.

Hiroki grabbed onto the rim of the opening with both arms, once he was stable, he took a deep breath and released his leg. For one terrifying moment he felt himself swing through the air and he was certain he was about to fall. Then he felt Miyagi’s arm steady him. The older man gave him an encouraging nod and Hiroki pulled himself up into the emergency tunnel. He didn’t have a moment to regain his breath as Nowaki followed him through almost immediately, his height meant that he could reach farther and pull himself through with ease. Tsumori did the same moments later, albeit with less finesse than Nowaki. They waited with baited breath for Miyagi and Shinobu to appear.

Nowaki had just gone through when they heard the clicking again. It was distant, not a threat for now, but there was another noise. Short loud bursts and explosions. Gunfire? Something wasn’t right and the zombies could sense it too. They had stilled and an undead silence had fallen over the atrium. Miyagi beckoned Shinobu over, a feeling of foreboding hanging over them. Shinobu began to move, but in the silence the true extent of their noise was exposed. Every move he made echoed and slowly but surely they began to look up. Shinobu froze praying that they wouldn’t hear, wouldn’t smell him. Neither man spoke. Miyagi almost thought they were safe. Then his ear picked up another noise. Faster more frantic footsteps than he’d heard from any zombie. A survivor? Sure enough someone, drenched in blood, ran up to where they were and looked around. He cursed under his breath and ran back out again. The zombies began to move, converging on the doorway where they sensed prey. It was their chance. Forgetting all notions of stealth, Shinobu raced across the pipes. Miyagi pushed him through the hatch and followed him quickly. He didn’t relax until the hatch was firmly closed behind them, and they were enveloped in darkness. Shinobu immediately forgot all the animosity he had previously felt and grabbed onto Miyagi, clutching onto his shoulders to support his shaking form. Miyagi ran his hand through the younger man’s hair.  
“We’re okay…” Shinobu’s quick breaths began to slow down, comforted by Miyagi’s warmth. They allowed their exhausted bodies a moment of peace. Luckily they had brought their supplies in their back packs and lit a flare to light their path. It cast a yellowish glow throughout the tunnel. They could see a faint green light pointing them to their destination. They were on their way out.

~~~

Above ground, approximately 1 hour ahead of the others, Misaki and Haruhiko were almost there. Misaki’s mind was racing almost as fast as the motorbike they were riding on. He was on his way home, to where Usagi-san was. He ignored the strange feeling that had been slithering around his mind like a venomous serpent the past few days. The dark part of him that sometimes looked at Haruhiko a little too long, a part of him who remembered the kiss. Misaki shook his head in disdain. He observed the surroundings, trying to take his mind off of the Usami brothers.  
“Ah! Haruhiko, slow down!” The older man did as he was told and slowed almost to a stop. They had just arrived at Shinjuku station. The crossing was eerily empty. “Why aren’t there any bodies?” Misaki asked, unnerved  
“They’ve probably all reanimated by now. Gone somewhere else.” Misaki couldn’t say that response comforted him in anyway. Misaki took in his surroundings. The fire had ravaged the area almost beyond recognition, however the tall tower of Shibuya 109 was still clearly visible. Misaki’s heart jumped with joy  
“Haruhiko I think we should walk form here, it’s on the other side of this building but the debris will make it hard to drive.” Haruhiko nodded  
“It’s safer too I suppose.”

Together they abandoned their vehicle and made their way across what was once the Shibuya crossing. They passed a collapsing subway entrance which prompted Misaki’s memory  
“Ah didn’t the others say they were going to try and come through the subway?”  
“Yes, through the emergency tunnels.” Haruhiko replied as they approached  
“There’s no way they’d be able to get out from this exit.” Misaki said, worry tinging his voice  
“They’re resourceful. I’m sure they’ve already done something crazy to save themselves by now.” Misaki laughed but only half heartedly. His heart beat was speeding up, slowly, but he could feel his body beginning to tense. He walked away from the edge in an attempt to calm down but he couldn’t shake the thought that something was about to happen. Haruhiko observed the brunette from the edge of the entrance when suddenly he heard noises from below. His heart almost stopped. Haruhiko couldn't make out the words, but he recognized the tone and the authority behind them. Akihiko. He looked over at Misaki. He was so beautiful and almost his. He could control this, delay this, at least for a little while. He walked away from the subway  
“We should go; we don’t want any zombies to come find us.” Misaki nodded in agreement  
“Yeah. I’ll take you to where I found Shinobu.”

It was now a case of waiting. They found the building with ease and as expected it too was seemingly void of chompers. Haruhiko and Misaki waited in a strained silence. Misaki refused to look at the other man. He couldn’t be distracted; time was too precious. He watched like a hawk for any signs of the others. Haurhiko too peered from their hiding place but he was far less committed than Misaki. He didn’t want to find Akihiko, but he knew it had to happen. He watched Misaki out of the corner of his eye. At least a part of Misaki was his, of this he was certain, but he was still blinded by Akihiko so much that he wouldn’t acknowledge it. When Akihiko returned he would be forced to confront his feelings and make a choice. If Haruhiko played his cards right, he could win.  
“Haruhiko look.” The older man turned his attention to the square. Someone was there. They burst from the subway, running at full speed until at last they slowed to a halt in the middle of the road, desperately gasping for air. They were drenched in blood. From this distance however, neither man could tell whether it was his own.  
“I think I know him…” Misaki stood up  
“Misaki don’t-” Haruhiko started, but Misaki was unstoppable. If his intuition was right, and this person was who he thought, then Akihiko might be closer than he ever could have imagined.  
“Hey!” The man turned around, eyes widening at the sight of Misaki “Chia-” He couldn’t finish his sentence. He suddenly discovered what he had been running from. A wave of bodies burst from the subway exit. 50 or so chompers charging, with their deadly teeth gnashing menacingly. Misaki reacted instantly, pulling out his gun. Haruhiko grabbed Misaki’s arm  
“We can’t fight them; we have to run.” They ran as hard and fast as they could, Haruhiko keeping a firm grip on the younger mans hand. They sped around a corner but were stopped dead in their tracks by a smaller, equally ravenous, group. Haruhiko pulled Misaki behind him and lifted his gun. It slowed them down but it was not enough. Misaki freed himself from Haruhiko’s grip and pulled out his hand gun  
“Do you know how to use that?!” Misaki looked at him blankly  
“doesn’t matter, bullets just kind of kill you.”

They fired, sliced and dodged zombies for a good half hour. They pushed them back into the subways, once they were cornered they opened fire. Nothing could survive that, it was the perfect strategy. Slowly but surely the zombies were taking up less and less of the area. It was almost easy by the end. They had abandoned their containment tactic and had gone back to their original method: point and shoot. Together they took out the stragglers. He kept an eye open, but he never saw what became of Chiaki.

~~~

They heard gunfire that was not their own. That was enough to draw them out of their momentary mourning.  
“We should go see who it is.” Kisa suggested  
“Let’s be on our guard though, we don't want to get involved in anything too dangerous.” Yukina added. They made their way across the deserted Shibuya crossing, following the sounds of gunfire. As they approached however the shots become less frequent, until they stopped entirely. Ritsu, who knew the area, led them over to the rubble of a burnt out building. “If we go through here we’ll be there in no time”. They all went through the charred entrance, Takahiro led them on, scoping out the area for chompers before beckoning them on. Akihiko stayed on guard at the tail end of the group. 

~~~

Misaki spotted a small alleyway with a few chompers loitering at the entrance. He approached them, gun drawn. However, the effort of killing so many chompers had tired him out and he wasn’t being as careful as he should have been. He felt his foot give way and he fell down hard into an open drain.  
“Ah!” He cried. He was close enough to see reach the roof of the sewer but not strong enough to pull himself out. How could he have been so clumsy. He felt on the ground for his gun. It was dark, so dark that he could only see the sewage illuminated by the opening above him. The longer he spent routing around in the water, the more anxious he became, he couldn’t see but there was also a stench far worse than that of any sewer he’d passed before. His hand hit something hard and cold. It wasn’t a gun. He pulled if out and realized it was an arm. He dropped it instinctively, a little too hard and it made a loud splash in to the water. Misaki froze. He prayed to anything that there wasn’t anything down here to hear that. His prayers weren’t answered.

He heard it faintly at first, Cl- cl- cl-. He scrambled around, finally laying hands on his gun. He shoved it in his belt pocket and reached up to the opening. Cli- cli- cli. It was coming closer. He tried with all his might to pull himself up. It was no use; he wasn’t strong enough. There was only one thing he could do now  
“Haruhiko!” He cried out desperately. He was giving away his position, but what choice did he have? “Haruhiko! Haruhiko! Help!” Click click click, he could hear it breathing not ten meters from him. Misaki closed his eyes, trying to keep calm. Suddenly a hand grabbed his. He looked up to see a pair of determined grey eyes fixed on him. Haruhiko pulled and Misaki jumped.

The moment he was out Haruhiko threw the grate back onto the drain and waited for the thing to fight. But it did nothing, it stared with it’s wide, empty eyes, up at the pair before moving away, further along the drain.  
The clicking came and went and Misaki was safe. He was on his knees gasping in an attempt to calm his racing heart. His body was going into shock; he could feel it. He looked up at Haruhiko eyes wide and glassy  
“I can’t breathe. Haruhiko help m-me w-w-what do I-” Misaki couldn’t finish his sentence. Haruhiko knelt in front of him and held his shoulders firmly  
“Misaki you’re fine. Slow down your breathing. Just like that. Look into my eyes.” Misaki fixed his eyes on Haruhiko’s. Their grey was like the sky, it was light and warm but with flecks of deep colour. Misaki felt his heart beat steadying by the second. It regained a stable beat but for some reason it was still faster than usual. He never broke his gaze with Haruhiko, if he kept studying his features maybe everything would be fine. The warm tone of his skin, the curve of his jaw line, the shape of his lips. He found himself staring at them a little bit longer than usual.

“Misaki…” Their eyes met, just for a moment. What followed was the only moment in his life when regret was his overriding emotion. He leant forward and met Haruhiko’s lips. It was different from before, he felt his heart pounding treacherously, spreading heat throughout his chest. Haruhiko pulled him closer and deepened the kiss in return, running his tongue over the his lips. Their tongues collided in chaotic rhythm. It was different from what Misaki was used to, Haruhiko tasted different, had a different pace. It was not like Akihiko at all. Suddenly something in Misaki made him snap, that first instinct was gone and all he wanted to do was pull away. He jumped back, their warm breath still mingling in the air. Misaki looked at Haruhiko wide eyed. That had just happened, he had kissed him. Little did Misaki know, Haruhiko was almost as shocked as he was. It took him a moment to recompose his default expressionless face but even then his voice shook slightly  
“let’s get out of the open, scout the other side of the building.” Misaki nodded. Haruhiko stood up and held his hand out, Misaki didn’t take it, instead pulling himself to his feet. “My foot feels fine” Misaki twisted it around a couple of times, walking tentatively to regain his composure. They walked a little bit out of the way, towards the charred shell of a former office block. It took Misaki a moment to realize however that he was in fact walking alone.

“Haruhiko...?” Misaki looked back at him expectantly, but the older man’s eyes were transfixed on something just behind Misaki’s right shoulder. Confused, Misaki turned around.

Misaki had had this dream the other day. When he was particularly depressed about being alone. He remembered an argument Akihiko and he had once had over a picture on facebook. He had looked a little too in love with Takahiro for Misaki’s liking. After that they had argued, made up with a lot of sex and decided that they would tell Takahiro together. Akihiko had only made one request, that they sorted out everything before they told him, so that if anything went wrong they could go right away. Misaki didn’t like the thought of running away, but he knew somewhere in his heart that if Takahiro wasn’t supportive he would do everything to keep them apart. All these thoughts were swimming in the forefront of his mind in the moment between consciousness and unconsciousness. But the moment sleep took a hold of him all of that melted away. Instead he was standing in a large but cozy room, filled with Suzuki-sans. He didn’t recognize it but it had the familiar sense of home and it smelled unmistakably of Usagi-san.  
“I’m supposed to carry you over the threshold.” Misaki turned around in surprise. Akihiko was standing a little way away from him, leaning casually against the doorframe. He was wearing a perfect grey suit, which complemented his eyes perfectly. If Misaki hadn’t already been in love with his Usagi-san before then, he certainly would have fallen head over heels now. Misaki blushed  
“I could carry you! Baka Usagi” He said, feigning annoyance. Usagi smiled his usual cheeky smile and closed the distance between them. He pulled the youner man into his arms and kissed him gently. Misaki’s heart burst out of his chest, he could have died happily then. Akihiko smiled and whispered agains this lips  
“We’re married now.” He said  
“Yes.” Misaki replied with barely more than a whisper  
“We’ll never be apart.”  
“Never.”  
“I’ll always be with you.”  
“Always…” Akihiko swept him into his arms and they ascended the stairs together. They had to make it official of course and just this once, Misaki would let Akihiko do anything he wanted.

That was the happiest moment he had experienced in a while and that was only in a dream. Now it felt like all of those emotions were on acid. Everything seemed to fade out of focus. The sound of distant chompers, the breathing of the people around him, even the sound of his own heartbeat. All that was real was Misaki and the stretch of ground which separated him from his Usagi-san.

The eyes he had imagined countless times, the hair, the hands, the skin everything which made Akihiko his was standing on the other side of the square. He was alive. Living and breathing and ten feet away. There was a moment, just one moment, where neither could move. Misaki felt a lump rising in his throat, he couldn't tell if he was about to laugh or cry or if he would never speak again. Akihiko looked as though he felt the same. Misaki’s heart hurt. He clutched his chest, trying to hold back a sob. The wait was over. He ran, closing the distance between them as though it was a single step. He almost fell into Akihiko’s arms. All at once the weight of months of separation came crashing down around him and it was almost unbearable. He buried his head in Akihiko’s chest and cried, loud and heartbreaking sobs. He felt strong arms wrap around him.

“Misaki…” Akihiko was lost for words. No language could describe the hardship they had both endured. He felt warm tears fall on to his hair. Akihiko. Misaki’s sobs settled and he finally pulled away to look at his lover. Akihiko brought a hand up and caressed the shorter mans cheek. It was still pale and smooth, but there was a coarseness which had not been there when last they met. In fact, the more he studied his lovers features the more differences he noticed. Misaki’s eyes were tired now and his hair was longer and disheveled. He was surprised by the cuts and bruises scattered across his face and neck, but he supposed that he wasn’t looking too great either.  
“You look terrible.” Misaki said in a shaky voice. Akihiko smiled, he leant down so that their foreheads were together  
“So do you. I suppose we don’t do well apart.” Akihiko’s voice cracked slightly at the end, a tear rolled down his cheek.  
“A-are you crying..?” Misaki’s eyes widened. Akihiko smiled  
“It’s just… you’re alive.”  
“We’re alive.” Misaki replied.

Akihiko closed the space between them. How had he lived without the feel of his lovers lips warm on his? How had he almost forgotten this taste? Kissing Akihiko was like being back in a world without zombies or the pain of loss. He felt Akihiko smile against his lips, then the older man slowly broke their kiss and whispered “we’re back to normal already.”

All at once the roses disappeared and darkness began to bleed into his vision. Akihiko hadn’t sensed the sudden change in his lover, instead taking his hand and leading him towards the others. Misaki knew that they could never go back to normal. Not now. The gods hadn’t even given him an hour of convenient forgetfulness. He was worried about what Akihiko meant. Misaki was not the same man he used to be, he wasn’t sure whether Akihiko would understand that. The image of himself kissing Haruhiko flashed before his eyes. Three times; once as a replacement, once as a mistake, once willingly. Things were far more complicated now. He looked over his shoulder and saw Haruhiko standing not too far from them. He was looking away from the pair, at something nondescript in the middle distance. Misaki hugged Akihiko against his chest, but his heart was in turmoil. How could he go on as normal, knowing that his own body had betrayed him?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you felt like all the chapters before this one were bit weird and kind of ran into each other, that's because I originally wrote them all as one MASSIVE chapter. But no matter how many times I reworded this last bit I couldn't get it right. I still honestly don't think it's very good :/ I really wanted to post this chapter and the previous one as one, but I hadn't updated in so long I felt like I owed you guys something.
> 
> So i fleshed out the other sections and split it like this. I hope you guys can still enjoy it!
> 
> Btw, if y'all aren't a fan of the whole HaruhikoXMisaki thing then I'll tell you one hint for where the story is going ! I ship AkihikoXMisaki more ;)


	18. First Breath

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm a terrible person who delayed the end of this story because why the fuck not?
> 
> Also sorry for the slow updates hopefully 2017 will be better! New year new me ;) 
> 
> Also also, this shit was getting intense so I added some jokey parts in there but if y'all don't like that please let me know!

“Oh my god.” The editors were staring in awe at the couple. They had watched as the smaller of the two ran, full speed, towards their companion and threw himself into his arms. It was the first spark of happiness they’d seen in this awful reality. Takano took Ritsu’s hand and gripped it tightly in his own, the shorter man had stopped protesting months ago, they were too tired to feign negative emotions. In fact, all the couple’s love had gone beyond want; they needed their partners like they needed oxygen. Separation was akin to suffocation and Akihiko had just taken his first breath in months. Takano pulled on Ritsu’s hand and they took a step back, allowing the couple privacy.

Takahiro had gone ahead, but for some reason he came storming back the way they came a conflicted expression on his face. It was probably a good thing, Takano thought, that he hadn’t seen the reunion. Judging from what Akihiko had said around the man, it was likely that he still didn’t know about their relationship. He sighed, that probably wouldn’t last long. He was sure Takahiro hadn’t seen the kiss, but after watching him a little longer, Takano realized that the older brother was in fact acting strange. He was looking pointedly at the floor, retracing their steps over and over.

“Takahiro, are you okay?” he called loud enough but the man hadn’t seemed to hear him. At that moment Hatori joined him. His eyes were seemingly void of emotion, but Takano could swear he could see his mind whirring behind the mask.  
“Takahiro.” The man froze at the sound of Hatori’s voice. “Lose something?” He whirled around and in the split second that he hadn’t registered Takano’s presence, he shot a look of loathing at Hatori. It disappeared almost immediately, and if Takano hadn’t been prone to spotting minute details he would have missed it altogether. But that look changed everything.  
“No I just dropped my phone.” He laughed  
“There’s no service anymore, it’s useless now.”  
“I suppose…” he trailed off, avoiding the others gaze and walking away from the pair. Takano turned towards Hatori so his back was to Takahiro  
“He’s hiding something.”  
“Yeah.”  
“Should I be worried?”  
“Not yet. He can’t do anything without going through me first.” Takano didn’t understand entirely, but he trusted Hatori. He placed a hand on his shoulder.  
“I trust you…. There’s another thing, let’s try and keep Akihiko and Misaki’s relationship on a need to know basis. I don’t think he knows they’re together and he’s already woundup tight/ We don't want to push him any further.” Hatori nodded  
“My lips are sealed.”  
“Good, I’ll tell the others.”

They ended up alone exactly where they had been reunited, in the middle of Shibuya with the bodies of the dead chompers not meters from where they stood. Neither had the heart to be the first to pull away and Misaki’s mind was spinning so fast he probably wouldn’t have been able to let go if he wanted to. Misaki had decided in the milliseconds which passed between seeing Haruhiko and realizing he had betrayed Akihiko that he would pretend that nothing had happened. In this terrible reality, denial was a pretty good option for solving detrimental emotional issues. Denial and dissociation. Perfect. Misaki, sad eyes cast down, slumped his head against his lover’s chest. Akihiko was surprised at the movement, but he ignored that for the moment. He seemed to sense Misaki’s distress

“We can’t stay here.” The shorter man said, his sadness leaking into his words. Akihiko wished they didn’t have to go either but Misaki was right. They were standing in a graveyard.   
“shall we find the others?” He prompted taking Misaki’s hand in his own and leading him slowly away. Akihiko too was stressing over something. Takahiro was here which meant there was only a certain amount of time left before he became suspicious of their relationship. The thought of telling any homophobe with a gun he was in a gay relationship ,with said homophobes little brother, was a terrifying prospect. As much as he hated to admit, it was probably safest to wait. Either way he had to tell Misaki.  
“Misaki there’s something you should know.” The brunette squeezed Akihiko’s hand nervously  
“What is it Usagi-san?” Akihiko’s heart clenched at the sound of the nick name he hadn’t heard in months. He squeezed back reassuringly  
“Takahiro is with us.” Akihiko hadn’t been sure what kind of reaction he should expect from his lover, but him stopping dead and refusing to move was not it.  
“T-takahiro? You mean Nii-chan?” He asked mouth agape. Akihiko nodded. Misaki immediately pulled his hand from Akihiko’s and looked around nervously. The loss of contact hurt but the older man understood, Misaki didn’t want his brother to know.  
“That means we can’t…” He went bright red and couldn’t finish his sentence. Akihiko’s looked at him surprised.

With his emotions for Haruhiko firmly locked in his mind dungeon he was left with one overwhelming urge. A physical urge. From the first second their skin touched it had felt like someone was gripping his heart, squeezing it like it might burst and in the pit of his stomach a warmth began to spread. This was the kind of desire he had felt before, but this is the first time he could remember it coming on so suddenly. He lifted his eyes to meet the taller man’s. He could see it, the desire burning behind those purple eyes, he wanted Akihiko to devour every last inch of him until they were one being, closer than close.

“Misaki we can’t. Not now at least.” Misaki’s heart sank at the words. He knew it was impossible for them.  
“I know…”

Something suddenly came to Misaki. He tried to think about the last time he’d even thought about where his brother was? When did he last wonder whether or not he was alive? He couldn’t remember.  
“You know, Usagi-san… this whole time I didn’t even think about him. After everything that happened, I just wanted to see you.” He was a terrible person. He’d completely thrown his brother away “how can I face him?” He felt Akihiko squeeze his shoulders comfortingly  
“Misaki there’s one thing you’ve never been, and that’s good at ignoring other people’s feelings. No one in their right mind would think you were a bad person because of this. Especially not your own brother.” Misaki nodded, but he wasn't sure if he really believed the words.

They walked hand in hand until they heard the voices of the others just around the corner of a charred out building. Akihiko pulled Misaki in close, pressing a soft kiss to his lips. It was bittersweet, who knew when they would be able to be like this again. He pulled away, not breaking eye contact with the younger man and disentangled their fingers. Misaki felt like all the warmth left his body at the loss of contact. They walked around the corner.

Takahiro was still searching as subtly as he could when Misaki and Akihiko come around the corner. He froze at the sight of his brother. It was all going to be okay. It had to be.  
“Misaki!” Takahiro cried out running over to him. He pulled him into his arms. Misaki felt tears prick at his eyes, but unlike with Akihiko he did not let them fall. If he broke down again he might accidentally let something slip about their relationship. He saw Akihiko walk past him, their hands so close they almost touched. This is how it had to be. He had to keep his guard up. Perhaps his brother sensed this as he tensed up slightly before releasing his brother from his arms  
“You’re alive. I’ve been thinking about you so much. Wondering what you’ve been doing all this time…” Takahiro’s eyes drifted away from Misaki as another person joined their group. Haruhiko passed, walking towards the others. Misaki watched confused, as his brother’s eyes went cold.  
“O-onii-chan?” he said uncertainly. Takahiro’s eyes drifted back to Misaki. There was something unfamiliar there. It lingered only for a moment before the usual warmth returned.

xXx

“It smells like shit down here.”  
“Shinobu stop moaning.”  
“Ouch Tsumori you stepped on my foot.”  
“Ah sorry that was me…”  
“Ah Hiro-san I’m so sorry, it didn’t hurt at all.”  
“WHAT ARE THESE DOUBLE STANDARDS?” It was dark, cold and damp. No one was happy. The walk through the emergency tunnels was always going to be tricky, with only a few flares to light their way. But every time they peeked though a drain, hoping to find an indicator as to how far from the others they were, they were met only with scenes of carnage and zombie teeth. Tsumori lit the final flare, illuminating the tunnel in red.  
“If we can’t find our way before this one runs out we’ll be blind down here.” He said, his voice serious again. Hiroki groaned as sharp pain shot through his body. Nowaki tensed  
“Hiro-san, are you okay?” Hiroki nodded  
“Yeah I’m fine, let’s just get out of here quick. How long does that flare give us?”  
“15 minutes.”  
“Damn it, let’s just keep going.” Shinobu called back, moving off quickly  
“Wait, don’t just rush off!” Miyagi called after the teen. “Damn it why does it always feel like I’m babysitting you...”

Hiroki felt like he was watching everything through a window. Voices around him were muffled, people sometimes faded in and out of focus. The only things that were real were the arms holding him up and the red light ahead of him. Nothing else existed. His head could only handle this much right now. Anything more than this and he might just break. His body still hadn’t gotten used to not having both legs as every time he tried to step with his remaining leg he instinctively tried to move the other. He had fallen more than once because of this. His body was exhausted. Had it really been a matter of days since he was alive enough to argue, talk to and even have sex with Nowaki? Now every step he took seemed to push him closer and closer to collapse. And when he did he knew what would happen. In his mind a vision stirred, of himself covered in blood tearing the flesh from Nowaki’s corpse. He stumbled, collapsing into Nowaki’s side.  
“Not far now Hiro-san. Hold on.” To anyone else Nowaki would have sounded calm, but close to 10 years of being together meant Hiroki could hear the fear in his voice. “Miyagi let go, I’ll carry him from here.”  
“You sure?” he asked uncertainly. Hiroki felt Nowaki scoop him into his arms and hold him tight against his body.  
“Definitely.” They group continued in the slowly creeping darkness. They weren’t far now.

xXx

Misaki looked with interest at the group his brother was travelling with. Surprisingly, there were some faces he recognized from Marukawa. The editors, Takano and another the knew by face who introduced himself as Kisa. Onodera was a stranger, so was the tall caramel haired man. But they greeted him warmly, as though they had known him all along.  
“Um, Onodera-san, how is it you all seem to know me quite well already?” He said tentatively, a nervous laugh escaping his lips. The taller brunette seemed surprised  
“Akihiko of course. He told us all about you. Then when your brother came along, we uh, we realized hat we’d seen you before. When you rescued Shinobu, we were hiding out in the building behind.” Misaki gaped  
“You were so close…” he looked over his shoulder to where Akihiko was standing with his brother. A warm hand fell on his shoulder  
“You’re here now, that’s what’s important.” Kisa said smiling. Misaki suddenly remembered the others  
“Haruhiko and I aren’t alone! There were other survivors following us.” All eyes fell on Misaki  
“Who else, Misaki? Where are they coming from?” Takahiro asked quickly  
“Only people who were in the university at the time of the apocalypse and a couple of doctors.” Akihiko’s eyes widened  
“Do you mean Hiroki as well.” Misaki nodded  
“They’re coming here, to the building but I’m not sure how we’ll meet them.” The others thought for a moment before Hatori stepped forward. He had been standing away form the rest, hiding his presence so well that Misaki hadn’t even noticed he was there.  
“It’s unlikely that they’ll come from the subways, that leaves the ground or the drains.”  
“The drains are full of chompers too.” Haruhiko said grimly “I had to rescue Misaki from a massive one just before you met with us.” Misaki blushed, Akihiko and Takahiro frowned  
“I’m sure he would have been fine on his own.” To Misaki’s surprise, it was Takahiro not Akihiko who spoke up first. Haruhiko shot him a look of distaste  
“Well unless you wanted bag of bones for a brother then you should be thanking me.”  
“Hey hey let’s calm down.” Misaki interjected. “The longer we spend up here the more likely it is we’ll miss them.” With the atmosphere still a little tense, they all went silently down to where they had fought the chompers.

Akihiko held back slightly to walk next to Misaki  
“You came here with Haruhiko?” Misaki’s heart skipped a beat. Did he know? How could he?  
“Yes I did.” He replied a little too quickly  
“And he saved you?” He asked again monotonously. Misaki nodded  
“Usagi-san, I would have died. We were fighting zombies and there were so many I lost track of my thoughts. I fell into a drain and down there was something… horrible. The noise-” he stopped pushing the memory out of his head. He looked up at Akihiko stoically, lowering his voice “Haruhiko did his best, which meant I could come home to you.” He almost took his lovers hand, before remembering who they were around and pulling it back. Akihiko watched the younger man closely  
“Let’s tell Takahiro about us.” Misaki’s head whipped around  
“We can’t. You said it yourself.”  
“well in the hour I’ve been sitting with you I changed my mind. I can’t be apart from you.” Misaki frowned  
“Are you saying this because of Haruhiko?”If you are then you’re right to be suspicious a voice added in his head, Misaki chose to ignore it "there is nothing to be worried about!” I kissed him. Three times. “You’re just being weird again.” I’m sorry, Usagi-san. All those thoughts he could not say. Instead he blindly reassured his lover. He was a terrible person.  
“Misaki I-”  
“GUNS.”Takano shouted from the front. Immediately they whirled around finding the source of distress. There was a loud crackling sound form beneath their feet and muffled noises. Suddenly they heard a banging coming from a storm drain on the pavement. They surrounded it, breaths held, frozen in place and ready shoot at will. The drain lid flew off.

xXx

“Not that I don’t think you’re happy to see me, but the guns are a bit much.” Miyagi said sarcastically. A whining voice from just below him shouted up  
“What even are you, old man?! Get out it stinks.” Misaki lowered his gun immediately  
“You made it!” He ran to the drain and began to help pull everyone out. The others, realizing who these people were also started helping.  
“Who are all these people?” Shinobu said frowning.  
“These are people from Usagi-san’s work… and my brother, and my, uh, brothers best friend and you already know Haruhiko, my brother’s best friends brother.” Shinobu looked at him annoyed  
“Well that was long winded. Why didn't you just say he’s your lo-” Misaki lurched forward and put a hand over his friend’s mouth  
“HAHAHA very funny you must be going mad from all the zombies and uh puberty haha!” Shinobu threw his hand off  
“Huh, puberty? What are you- MIYAGI!?” Miyagi tapped in, grabbing Shinobu’s arm and pulling him away  
“Don't worry Misaki, I got this.” Misaki watched as Miyagi dragged his struggling friend away.

Everyone’s attention was brought back to the drain once more when Nowaki emerged cradling Hiroki’s exhausted form. The atmosphere suddenly turned very somber. Sensing the change, Nowaki spoke up  
“He’s alive, for now.” As they walked to their shelter and the sun illuminated his fragile form, Nowaki could see the change in Hiroki. His skin was greying in places and his veins were beginning to become visible through the translucent flesh. His leg didn’t look like it was healing well and even his arm was looking perilous at this point. He shuddered at the thought of having to deal with that using the limited medical supplies they had. On anyone else he may have a had more confidence, but he wasn’t sure he could go into full doctor mode around Hiroki anymore. He looked away from his lover, addressing the group  
“I need to speak to you all. Is there somewhere we can gather safely for now?” The others were surprised, he could tell, but the tall caramel haired man seemed interested  
“We’ve set up a camp in a building just around the corner.” Yukina replied. Nowaki nodded  
“Let’s go.”

xXx

Nowaki took some time with Hiroki to change his bandages, in the meantime the others al gathered in the room, sitting in a rough circle waiting for the doctor to arrive. Takahiro had placed himself between Misaki and Haruhiko and immediately struck up conversation.  
“Tell me everything. I’ve missed hearing your voice.” Talking to his brother felt normal, too normal. How could he ask him that as though he was asking him to talk about a holiday he’d just got back from? He couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something off about him.  
“You tell me first!” Misaki responded, unsure of what he could say without giving himself away. As Takahiro spoke, his eyes found Akihiko’s from across the room. He was sitting opposite Misaki sneaking looks whenever he thought Takahiro wouldn’t notice. Akihiko didn’t seem to notice, but as Misaki’s eyes wandered around the circle, he realized that he wasn’t the only one shooting him secret looks. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Nowaki re-enter the room.  
“…and then zombies came into my safe house and I was separated from them. That was a couple of weeks ago.” Misaki’s attention was suddenly directed back to the conversation  
“Oh no… Nii-chan I’m so sorry.” His brother smiled at him sadly  
“Don’t worry, I’m sure they’re okay. We had other friends with us when it happened, for all I know it’s them who think I’m dead.” He chuckled slightly. “but it’s nice to have family around again. When we find the others, we can stick together, just us! After all…” Takahiro leant in close to a puzzled Misaki “I may be wrong” he whispered “but I’m pretty sure 90% of the people here are gay.” he shuddered the last word.

Takahiro had very few faults in his brother’s eyes. But one thing he had always noticed, was that the older man found it very difficult to lower his voice enough. Takahiro, back turned to the group didn’t see, but as the words left his lips, everyone in the room shot him a look of complete and utter disbelief. Shinobu looked like he would have fought him then and there if Miyagi hadn’t physically restrained him. Dark Nowaki had been released. Kisa and Yukina started making out, he would later say it was “to prove a point”. Takano face palmed, Ritsu laughed saying something under his breath along the lines of “nope I’m not gay. It’s his fault”. Tsumori frowned “am I 10%? Am I worth that much? Let me check the maths.”. Akihiko just looked disappointed.

Misaki knew they were expecting him to say something to his brother. But right now his brain just didn’t seem to function and so he said  
“Maybe like 94%...” Takahiro looked as though he was about to say something, but Nowaki cleared his throat loudly attracting everyone’s attention to him.

“Hello everyone, my name is Nowaki Kusama and I’m a doctor. Some of you may be wondering how and why we found you. Well we came here to ask for your help. A few months ago, Shinobu got separated from us and stumbled upon your group. As you know that was when he found out he was immune, like most of you. I studied some blood samples of his whilst we were travelling here and from what I can ascertain, the bite didn’t spread venom throughout his body because his something in his blood was incompatible with the bacteria. After he came back to the original safe house, Miyagi, Tsumori and myself arrived with one other woman. Aikawa.” Akihiko’s eyes widened  
“Aikawa? My editor Aikawa?” Nowaki averted his eyes. In the heavy silence Akihiko seemed to realize what was going unsaid, his expression darkened. “She’s dead.” It wasn’t a question.  
“She came to us already infected, but she hid it. She hid it for months.”   
“Months? That’s not possible!” Onodera gasped  
“That’s what we thought. Any normal person would have turned in minutes. But for some reason she stayed alive long enough to cause irreparable damage.” He hesitated “She almost killed, ate most of Hiro-san’s leg… But I managed, with the help of Tsumori and the others, to save him, for now. Actually I suppose more accurately I managed to delay his death.” Takano interrupted Nowaki, unable to hide his confusion from his features any longer.  
“Why did you bring an infected here with you? Look I’m sorry, but I don’t see how we can help at all.” Nowaki clenched his fists, determined.  
“Raise your hands if you’re immune.” Hesitantly, Hatori, Ritsu, Yukina and Shinobu raised their hands. “Keep your hands raised if you want to end this apocalypse.” Everyone’s eyes widened in shock but none went down. Nowaki released a breath he didn’t know he was holding. “I don’t know about any of you, but I want to save the world.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please don't judge me too hard for forgetting Takahiro existd in the first part of this story, I honestly had no idea the plot would take me here... 
> 
> Also as a taster for the next chapter, I promise secretive sexy times, much sexy times ;)


	19. Stolen Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is basically porn and plot establishment. Enjoy!

They had a new mission: to find a hospital which was as intact as possible. They decided to use the city maps to locate every one they could and started scouting them out right away. They set off in groups of two, so that if something happened to the other, they could run back to camp and get help. During these trips, they would also gather vital supplies: food, water and ammunition. 

This was their routine. It worked well at first, every couple of days they would switch partners and be back before sun down. However throughout the process something had become incredibly clear; by this point almost everyone could tell that Takahiro was hiding something. The first clue was the way he always acted as though he was looking for something. More than once, Misaki had walked in on him scrambling around their camp, searching under rocks and debris. One time Misaki had even seen him sneaking out to the subway. Secondly, for a reason beyond anyone’s understanding, Takahiro hated Hatori and Haruhiko. Takano could understand the animosity between Hatori and Takahiro; Hatori blamed him for Chiaki’s death and he had seen the look Takahiro shot the man when they were waiting for Akihiko and Misaki to rejoin them, and it seemed like the feeling was mutual. 

However his attitude towards Haruhiko was a mystery. As far as everyone knew, they’d hardly met before this point and had no reason to hate each other. The others had seen it too; his glares, side glances and wary body language. It was certain that something wasn’t right. 

The group had decided to confront him about it, but they agreed that they would only move forward with the consent of everyone. That night they made camp in an office building. The first floor had been filled with half decaying corpses, but on the second floor there were no signs of any chompers lurking in the shadows. Takahiro said something about being tired and went to sleep first. That was their opening. They all gathered around the wooden table, almost certain that there would be no problems. But when the time had come for a vote, only Akihiko abstained.  
“He’s acting as suspiciously as any of us. We’re all exhausted and battle worn, of course we’d expect the worst.” Akihiko said in defence of his best friend  
“But Nii-chan isn’t like this. He doesn’t hate anyone!” Misaki protested, trying to make his lover see reason  
“Yeah, except all gay people.” Yukina growled unhappily  
“That’s… a separate issue. One Misaki and I will help him through together.” Misaki looked at his lover sheepishily. After talking about it they decided that they would tell Takahiro about their relationship as soon as they’d found a hospital. Akihiko squeezed Misaki’s shoulder. Takahiro was still asleep in the next room, so the couple were being as close as they dared whilst he was still near them. Takano sighed and ran a hand through his hair  
“Even if we make him talk, we don’t really have a plan for after that. If it turns out to be nothing major, then that’s something we can work with. But if it’s something more…serious. Then we have to be united in our decision.” A strained silence fell on the group. Nowaki stood first, helping Hiroki to his feet.  
“I have a feeling we won’t be resolving anything tonight. Hiro-san needs rest.” He didn’t need to say anything else. Misaki was sure everyone could see that Hiroki wasn’t getting better. The worst thing was that no one knew how long he had. He had only just surpassed Aikawa in terms of surviving with a bite, but he needed better medical attention than either Nowaki or Tsumori could give in this state. Slowly the others filtered out leaving only Misaki, Akihiko, Hatori and Takano in the room.  
“I should go…” Misaki said sadly. His brother had taken to sleeping next to Misaki, keeping him apart from the others. If he wasn’t there when Takahiro woke up he might get suspicious. Akihiko frowned; he didn’t like it, but there was nothing he could do.  
“yeah…I have look out tonight, so I’ll see you in the morning.” They both stood, but neither showed any signs of leaving. Across the room Takano whispered something to Hatori, who nodded.  
“Akihiko, I’ll do your look out tonight. Hatori you’re on too aren’t you?”  
“Yeah” The editors stared at them intently. Misaki was confused. Akihiko was not.  
“Well then we’ll leave you to it.” Akihiko made a mental note to thank the pair later. He grabbed Misaki’s hand and lead him out of the room and into the darkening corridor.

“Ah Usagi-san where are we going?!” Misaki whispered as they walked through the offices.  
“I don’t know yet.” Akihiko replied bluntly  
“Huh?! Usagi-san there’s no one else around, why-” Oh. It was dark in the building, but he knew his face was bright red. Akihiko stopped walking, looked left, then right, then pulled Misaki into what looked like a small office. The room was big enough only for a desk and shelves The walls were pretty bare other than the large window which occupied the back wall behind the desk. The light of the moon was so bright it flooded the room with soft blue light. Akihiko closed the door. At the sound of the lock clicking shut, his heart started beating faster. They were finally alone.

Misaki turned around. His heart racing in his chest. Akihiko was looking at him with a desire which burned so hot it could have set the room alight. Misaki drew in a long shaking breath, he could feel his skin burning beneath his gaze. How did Akihiko do this to him? All it took was one look from the man and he could feel himself coming undone. If only Misaki knew, he was doing the same to Akihiko. This separation was too much to bare.  
“U-usagi-san...” his voice was trembling; his eyes were pleading. The silver haired man needed no more encouragement.

Both rushed forward, crashing lips first in the center of the room. As kisses go, it was pretty fucking fantastic. Akihiko’s lips were rough and demanding entry almost immediately. Misaki was more than willing to comply. He parted his lips welcoming in the familiar taste of his lover. Misaki couldn’t remember the last time they’d kissed like this; heat consuming his entire body until it felt like Akihiko’s kiss had branded him, leaving its glowing mark on his skin. Misaki, determined not to be outdone, leant further into the kiss letting his tongue travel around the older man’s mouth, tasting every surface he could. When had they ever kissed so passionately, so frantically? They were starved and both knew there was only one thing that would satisfy their hunger. 

Akihiko’s hands traced the lines of Misaki’s body until they found the hem of his sweatshirt. The brunette gasped when he felt cold hands caress his back beneath his shirt. He felt the silver haired mans hands trailing up and down his spine in a surprisingly gentle gesture. The light touches made him shiver, but they weren’t what he needed. In a move that shocked them both, Misaki grabbed his lovers collar and pushed him onto the desk until he was completely sitting on it. The brunette pulled back for air and looked at Akihiko. His hands were resting on the smooth wood on either side of his lover, trapping him beneath. The older man grinned mischievously “I like this side of you, Misaki” he practically growled the words, voice heavy with desire. He grabbed Misaki’s waist and pulled him in to his lap so quickly Misaki had no time to steady himself. He collapsed against Akihiko’s warm chest, hands gripping tightly to his shoulders. Lips found his and hands travelled, faster than before, beneath his shirt. Misaki lifted his arms automatically, so Akihiko could relieve him of the barrier. As they kissed Misaki made quick work of unbuttoning the silver haired mans shirt. The sight of his pale skin in the moonlight made him look like a ghost, like he might disappear at any second. He gripped him just a little tighter. Akihiko was here, he wasn't an apparition which would disappear with the stars when morning came.

He felt warm lips move away from his own, instead they began to taste the skin on his neck. His lover nuzzled into a particularly enticing area of soft skin at the base of his neck, flushed red and sensitive. He took the flesh between his teeth and sucked it raw, lapping at it mercilessly. He relished in the sounds of pleasure his lover was making as he made a mess of him. He pulled away searching for a new spot to mark. He kissed along his collar bone until he spotted Misaki’s delicious looking nipples. He dove for one, but found their position kept his feast just out of reach. He groaned. There was no way he’d let anything keep them apart after so long. He took hold of Misaki’s shoulders and flipped their positions so that he was pinning Misaki against the wood. Immediately he clasped Misaki’s nipple between his lips and sucked hard. He could feel his lover trembling, could feel their arousal growing. He flicked his tongue across the sensitive skin, eliciting a moan from the brunette. “U-Usagi-san!” his name rolling off of Misaki’s tongue was like music to his ears.  
“Misaki” he purred, releasing the bruised flesh from his lips and kissing lower until he reached the waist of Misaki’s jeans. The younger man tensed in anticipation whilst Akihiko removed his clothes. His cock sprang free, red and flushed against his stomach. “You’re always beautiful like this…” Misaki burned red, looking away from his lover  
“D-don’t say embarrassing things, baka-Usa- ah!” he couldn't finish his protests before Akihiko licked his length from base to leaking tip, swallowing the pre-cum which had already gathered there. He flicked his tongue across his slit, teasing the tip before taking in every inch of his cock. Misaki moaned, trying not to thrust into his lover’s mouth as Akihiko worked his cock. As if sensing that he was holding back the older man squeezed his thighs, in encouragement. Misaki relaxed, allowing himself to move, fucking his lovers mouth until he felt himself grazing the back of his throat. He gasped at the contact, feeling heat pool in his stomach. He could feel his orgasm building, blood rushing and his heart pumping. He was losing himself  
“Usagi-san I’m… going to…” he choked, but he spoke to soon. He yelled, overcome with desire, feeling himself release into his lover’s mouth. He heard Akihiko swallow his release. His eyes travelled down to look at the silver haired man. He was positioned between his legs, pupils dilated and eyes hooded with desire. There were traces of cum and saliva at the edge of his mouth. His lips were pink and slightly swollen, Misaki breathed in sharply, had they always been that enticing? Akihiko only held his gaze, not making any move to continue their intimacy. Misaki felt the animal inside of him whine, they weren’t done yet. He leant forward and pulled the other man towards him, so they were both completely on the desk. Their lips met again in a more gently than before.

Misaki couldn’t help but smile slightly against his lover’s lips. Being intimate like this, it felt as though nothing had changed. They’d had sex on Akihiko’s desk before, it had been far less frantic and they had been far more prepared to do it, but it was still a fond memory. One that didn’t fail to encourage Misaki. He wondered if Akihiko remembered it too? Their rhythm was building again but he pulled away and let his hands find the waist of Akihiko’s trousers.  
“Usagi-san” he whispered into his ear as he opened the fly and slid his hand beneath the fabric “Fuck me against the desk.” Any other day, Misaki would have rather become a nun than ever say something so dirty. But fuck it, he thought, he was allowed to put his pride aside just for one night. Misaki took notes, mentally, as those words seemed to destroy any handle his lover had on self control. He pushed his fingers into Misaki’s mouth  
“Suck” Misaki lapped at the digits, coating each one in a thick layer of saliva. It wouldn’t do a good a job as lube, but in a zombie apocalypse there were some luxuries you had to go without. Akihiko extracted his fingers then trailed them down to his entrance. Carefully, he inserted a digit and began to work his lover open. Not feeling much resistance, he added another and then another, taking his time to stretch the flesh as much as possible. Beneath him, Misaki felt his arousal growing again but he was shocked at the pain. Akihiko hadn’t even put it in yet, but he was already writhing against him with tears in his eyes. But Akihiko knew him well, he knew his body even better than he did and not before long the pain began to fade he could even accommodate another finger. But if they stayed like this he was not going to last and he wanted his lover inside him before he came.  
“U-Usagi-san, please!” He begged. Akihiko didn’t keep him waiting. Adjusting their position so that Misaki’s legs were resting on his shoulders, he slowly slid his cock into Misaki.

Akihiko’s cock took him to another plane of existence. He gasped at the feeling of it inside of him, filling him to the brim. How had he lived without this? It should be a crime for anyone to be starved of a feeling this good. He thought it couldn’t get better, he thought that he could come just at the feeling of Akihiko inside. Then he moved and Misaki fell to pieces.

Akihiko was pounding him into the desk, hard and quick, driven by an indescribable desire to claim the brunette trembling beneath him. They were losing control with every thrust, becoming more and more frantic. Misaki moved to meet him mid thrust and Akihiko’s cock hit that sweet spot which made his lover choke with pleasure. “ah…hi-hiko” he could barely say his lovers name as he reached his climax. He came on his chest, he tightened around Akihiko’s cock. The feeling was as intoxicating as the lustful moans Misaki made and the two together was too much. Akihiko came only a few thrusts later, filling Misaki to the brim. He pulled out and relaxed against his lover’s exhausted form. As they caught their breaths Akihiko’s hand wove its way into Misaki’s hair, brushing the strands out of his sweat covered forehead. Misaki’s eyes drifted over to meet his. They were emerald green, bright even in the moonlight. How had he ever loved anyone else? How had he ever batted an eye in Takahiro’s direction when this person existed?  
“I love you.” The words came out almost without him realizing. Misaki blushed and looked away just for a moment. Akihiko smiled, he hadn’t expected anything else. He knew, he knew that Misaki loved him. He trusted him enough to know without needing to hear the words.  
“I love you too.” Akihiko’s hand stilled. Misaki looked at him earnestly, eyes full of conviction in spite of the blush on his cheeks. Akihiko pulled the brunette so that his head was resting against his chest with their arms wrapped around each other. They stayed like that for so long, neither wanting to be the one who admitted that they had to rejoin the others, get back to their beds before a certain someone noticed they were missing. Akihiko looked at the young man who in the moonlight looked like he hadn’t aged a day since they first met so many years ago. He had known then, and he knew know, that he would never love like this again.


	20. Shadow of a silhouette

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This...its basically porn filler because I have had a hectic two months and now I'm finally free again!  
> Also I thought i'd give sometime to my (slightly sidelined) faves Kisa/Yukina and SHinobu/Miyagi! Hope you like it ;)

A week later Kisa and Yukina returned from a standard supply excursion far later than expected. They sped burst into the main room breathing heavily and gripping each other for support. It just so happened that the first people they stumbled upon, were Shinobu, Miyagi and Nowaki counting ammo. They all whipped around, surprised.

“What happened?” Nowaki asked, concern lacing his voice. For a while the pair didn’t reply, but they shared a look which for the first time in what felt like forever, was not one of despair.

“We found a hospital.” Yukina grinned at them. They gaped, to shocked to say anything, then everyone at once seemed to spring into action.

“Where?” Nowaki asked quickly

“Teikyo University hospital. 3 hours walk from here. We were looking for somewhere to have s-” Kisa Suddenly put his hand over Yukina’s mouth and finished for him

“it doesn’t matter what we were doing, we found this university hospital. The gates were all locked and the whole campus had been closed for renovations, so they were only treating outpatients. It’s looks untouched.” Nowaki ran forwards and hugged them both before he dashed out of the room and out of sight. The others watched him go with heavy hearts. Everyone knew that the doctor had a seemingly impossible job ahead of him. Kisa turned to the others

“How much ammo do we have?” Shinobu looked at the small piles on the floor

“Not much, enough to last us about a week tops.” The blonde grimaced

“It was too quiet if you ask me.” He shuffled “I got a bad feeling from the place.”

“But we have to go. Not just for Kamijou’s sake but for everyone.” Miyagi sighed as he ran a hand through his hair. Shinobu shot the older man a glare

“Don’t do that you’ll go bald.” He rolled his eyes and turned on his heel “come on we’ll tell the others. You guys rest, you deserve it.”

 

Yukina and Kisa waited until the door had clicked shut before they ran into each others arms. Kisa yanked down the taller man by the collar to meet his lips in a demanding kiss. The younger responded eagerly, grinning as sucked on his lovers tongue. After a few minutes they pulled apart for air, neither bothering to fight the ecstatic grin on their faces.

“We found a hospital.” Kisa grinned

“We found a hospital.” Yukina replied, smiling. This was just one of the reasons they went so well together, they were both inappropriately and disproportionately happy just to have done this one good thing. And damn Kisa was ready to take advantage of that. He ground his hips up against Yukina’s , eliciting a groan from the taller man. His hands moved down quickly to squeeze Kisa’s ass before gripping his thighs and lifting him up so that the smaller man was completely off the ground. It was with kisa’s arms and legs wrapped around Yukina, their faces and lips red with the heat of their kisses, that Takahiro found them. He looked as though he was about to say something but held himself back almost immediately

“I… Nowaki said something about a hospital, I’ll come back later.” He turned to leave, shooting them a poorly disguised look of distaste. Not bothering to untangle himself from Yukina, Kisa called out

“We found a hospital, we’re heading their ASAP.” He spoke flippantly, raising his eyebrows at the other man.

“I’ll talk to someone else about it.” he replied but not stopping his retreat from the room.

“Hey” Takahiro stopped but didn’t look around “do you have a problem?”

“What?” He had the nerve to put on a disbelieving voice.

“do you, have a problem, with us” he punctuated his sentence by gesturing to himself and Yukina, finally breaking apart from the red head. Takahiro’s expression deadpanned, and he replied curtly

“I don’t want to disturb whatever” he waved his hand vaguely in their direction, face stony “this is.” A stiff silence fell between them, with Takahiro seemingly wanting to say more but, knowing he was out numbered, held the words back. Yukina on the other hand, was not having it.

 

“You know you aren’t fooling anyone.”

“I don't know what you’re talking about.” Takahiro replied defiantly

 

“Oh really? So you don’t hate Hatori or Haruhiko? You don’t hate gay people? You can deny it all you like but you’re a terrible liar, Takahiro. We know you’re hiding something and it won’t be long before we find out what it is and I wonder what would happen to you then?” the older Takahashi sneered at the men facing him

“You might want to get off your high horses and open your eyes. I’m Misaki’s brother, I’m Akihiko’s best friend. You can’t get rid of me, they’d never let you.”

 

There was a moment of silence. Only a moment.

 

Kisa started to laugh. It was a high pitched uncontrollable laugh, indulging in the irony of it all. Takahiro looked shocked at the blatant mocking he was being subject to.

“Why are you laughing?” He demanded angrily. Kisa managed to stifle his laughter and reply

“We had a vote.” He wiped a tear from his eye “about whether or not to confront you. It had to be unanimous.” He could sense Takahiro tense up from across the room. It was too perfect. “Only one person abstained.”

 

Takahiro felt like a bus had knocked him over. He watched as Kisa fell back into Yukina’s arms, trying to fight the fits of laughter overcoming him. Only one person voted to keep him.

“Which one was it?” He hissed through his teeth. Yukina grinned, pulling Kisa back against him

“Ask them yourselves. Now if you’ll excuse us” The pair resumed their make out session as a wounded Takahiro stormed out of the room. As the door swung shut he heard Kisa call out in a muffled voice “we’re going to have some great gay sex before we head to Teikyo”

 

The door closed with a click, but anyone passing would still be able to hear the muffled slam of a body against the wall and the smacking of lips. Usually it would have bothered Takahiro to no end. But he had gone still once more, only this time it was for a completely different reason.

 

“Teikyo. As in Teikyo University Hospital?” he muttered to himself, in disbelief. A devilish grin slowly started to creep onto his face. It was almost too good to be true. Everything had fallen into place, they may have taken the scenic route, but maybe losing the phone wouldn’t put a halt to his plans after all. Of course there was still the issue of Misaki and Akihiko. Now, only one of them was trust worthy, but which one? He would confront them before they left. He had to know who were his enemies and who were his allies in this apocalypse.

 

* * *

 

In a corridor not far from the plotting man. Nowaki was standing equally as still, readying himself for the sight beyond the door. His hand was tight on the door handle. He took a deep breath and turned the cold metal, until he heard the lock click. He pushed. It had been 3 days since he had stopped letting people into the room. It had been 3 days since Hiroki had gotten worse. It had happened almost overnight. The evening before he was talking like he used to, before his leg, before the bite, before this whole zombie apocalypse. He looked tired and he wasn’t eating much but he seemed, Nowaki felt his heart clench, normal. He had gone out, for an hour to get some fresh air. When he came back Hiroki was asleep fast asleep and deathly cold. He hadn’t woken up since. His heart beat was so slow it seemed like it could stop a any moment. Not on his watch. Nowaki had learnt how to deal with people in critical condition with minimal equipment and it was this knowledge which had kept his lover alive until now. But Nowaki knew he wouldn’t last another week. Not like this. Nowaki walked to the edge of the make shift bed the brunette was lying on. He took his hand, mainly to feel his pulse, partially to feel closer to him. His skin was grey, almost translucent in its coloring.

 

“This is cruel.” Nowaki hadn’t heard the door open over the beeping of machinery around him. He turned to find Tsumori standing at the entrance, looking gravely at the scene. Nowaki drew his eyes away, back to Hiroki

“I know what I’m doing.”

“No you don’t. You haven’t had a handle on the situation since you bashed that editors head in.” Nowaki didn’t say anything. Instead he moved over to his medical supplies and took out the blood pressure gage. Tsumori watched his every move.

“I have to make sure he’s stable before we move him anywhere. If I sedate him when his heart beat is strong, we’ll be able to walk him there no problem.”

“I’ve heard about this hospital business. It’s a 3 hour walk away you know?”

“I know.”

“That’s the limit, the longest he’ll survive unsupported.”

“I know.”

“What’s your back up plan?”

“What do you mean?” Tsumori sighed and placed a hand to his forehead.

“I mean if he dies Nowaki. What then?” He snapped. Nowaki looked at him coldly, not rising to the bait

“he won’t die. I won’t let him.” Tsumori groaned in exasperation

“Nowaki just listen to yourself! You’re my friend you know, I can’t just sit by and let this go on.” Nowaki remained stubbornly silent. The two doctors stared each other down. As the black haired man expected, Tsumori shook his head and slumped against the door frame in defeat “I just don’t want you to invest your everything into this, only to be destroyed if it doesn’t work out.” The silence between them was tense but soon broken by Nowaki’s quiet voice.

“It’s too late for me, Tsumori. I’m invested already. I have been since the day I met him in that park 6 years ago.” He looked away. “He’s the first and last love of my life, if he goes down then I go with him.” That was the end of it. Tsumori said something about going to Teikyo first thing tomorrow morning then walked away without another word. Nowaki didn’t care what anyone else thought.

“Hold on for me, Hiro-san. Please.” He locked their fingers together and brought the cold flesh to his lips. “I’ll save you. If it’s the last thing I do, I’ll save you and everyone in this country and we’ll go home.” He felt tears rushing down his cheeks as he said the words. He said them because he had to believe them, because if he didn’t he would lose everything. He had to believe that even in their darkest hour, there was a way back home.

 

* * *

 

Shinobu had been feeling eyes on him ever since he took the watch two hours ago. He knew, somehow, wherever he went, what ever he did, there were a pair of eyes trained on him. The only thing was, he was very much, alone. Takahiro had gone around the back of the building to syphon fuel out of a car, meaning Shinobu had been manning his post unaccompanied. The hairs on the back of his neck pricked up and in his peripheral vision he thought he almost saw the shadow of a silhouette of a person. But by the time he turned to focus on it, it was gone. He heard Takahiro return and form that point on, whatever it was, disappeared. The feeling of foreboding however, did not go away. Soon, from the other direction, a new shadow appeared, only it could not have been more different than the illusive one Shinobu had seen before. Takahiro had just rejoined him when he saw it.

“Takahiro, don’t move.”

“What-”

“Shit, get down” Without explaining himself he grabbed the man and yanked hi to the ground behind their hastily made barricade.

 

The the main entrance of the office building was surrounded by charred out cars and the remnants of a now collapsed building. It had only taken half a day to pile those into a low wall. It was just high enough to give them a strategic advantage, but low enough that they could stand behind it and still spot a threat before it was too late. From their position on the floor, they could see through one of the small gaps in the wall to the road opposite.

“Shinobu what is it.” The blonde wasn’t listening, not in the usual way he didn’t listen to Takahiro because he was saying something homophobic and stupid, but because his eyes were watching something stalking down the road. Takahiro followed his eyes and his jaw dropped.

 

“A clicker. Damn super zombies I thought we’d lost them.” Shinobu muttered under his breath. The zombies inhumanly elongated limbs clicked, shifting in and out of their sockets as it crawled along the ground on all fours. It seemed to be following some invisible path, which was heading dangerously close to them.

“What’s it doing?” Takahiro asked with bated breath

“I don’t know…” he watched as the clicker followed the path in and out of sight, weaving through cars. Where was it going? It stopped at an open drain, stuck its head in and then turned to look exactly where they were sitting. “Takahiro, we have to move.”

“What?”

“Move move move” Shinobu, still crouching moved stealthily away from the door.

 

It was tracking their scent. It was on the heels and they were leading it right into their hide out. They had to move away fast, try and divert it away from the entrance and then…

Shinobu didn’t want to think about that. Takahiro had seemed to catch on and was watching his back as they threaded through the pile of cars, and into the open. It hadn’t seen them. They dashed to the alcove of a building opposite and pressed themselves against the wall.

“Look there.” Takahiro nodded to their left. They were standing next to a well lit, but narrow alley, which led to a dead end. “we’ll lead him down there and trap him.” Shinobu frowned into the darkness.

“How? There’s no scent of ours down there.” Takahiro grabbed his shoulder reassuringly

“Not yet.” He pulled out his gun

“What-” Takahiro threw him out of their hiding with one strong painful shove. Shinobu couldn’t hold back the yell of pain which fell from his lips as his head thwacked against the concrete. He scrambled to his feet, intending to shout a piece of his mind at Takahiro, but he had disappeared. Instead, not 10 meters away from him, the monster was staring right at him.

 

His breath hitched. His heart beat sped up. His eyes flickered to the left. Brick wall. To the right. Open ground, he’d be run down in seconds. Behind? Dead end. His eyes darted back to the zombie. It shouldn’t have been possible, but it was almost as though that face which had no muscle or skin to show expression, was grinning at him menacingly.

 

“Shit.”

 

It ran at him. Shinobu, stupidly, ran backwards. He ran out of space far too quickly and his back hit the brick wall. It was on him in moments. It bit down hard on his arm, enough to bruise but not enough to break skin. What the hell? It flung him out of the alleyway and into the square. His body rolled limp as a rag doll, only stopping when the monster returned, using one of its deformed, nightmarish limbs to hold him in place. Why didn’t it just eat him? Why was it toying with him like this? He felt its cold copper tinted breath in his face but he couldn’t scream. If he screamed, then others would come and find them. Others would track them down and kill them all. They’d kill Miyagi. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Takahiro standing there, watching. His eyes pleaded the other man for help, but he only watched as the zombie put all of his weight on his throat. He gasped for air, eyes bewildered. It was suffocating him? What the hell? His throat burned under impossible power of the bony dead fingers. His watering eyes found Takahiro’s motionless form, was he imagining the glint of joy in his eyes? His eyes began to roll back, his heart constricting in his chest.

There was a smack, and spurt of black, tar like blood, and the sound of a head rolling across the ground. Immediately the pressure was gone and Shinobu struggled the lifeless, now headless, body of the zombie from him. He coughed up blood, his throat burning, head and neck both bruised and arm aching. But he was alive. He whirled around. Takahiro was wiping the black tar off of his machete. He had, in a way, just saved Shinobu’s life, but he took damn long enough.

 

“WHAT THE HELL?” He yelled, then instantly regretted as his throat burned.

“What?”

“You pushed me right into it’s way?”

“No I provided a distraction so that we could kill the zombie.”

“YOU COULD HAVE TOLD ME ABOUT IT FIRST!”

“Details details.” Shinobu was shaking with rage. But he didn’t get a chance to be angry at Takahiro for much longer.

 

“What’s going on here?” Akihiko was watching them from the doorway. He was surveying the scene with eyes full of confusion. Shinobu stared up at him for a moment before storming back inside the building. Everyone knew where Akihiko’s allegiances lay, even when it was Shinobu covered in bruises and someone else blood, he would side with Takahiro. So what was the point in fighting? Instead Shinobu sought out Tsumori and Nowaki. The former of whom took him to their make shift medical room and checked him over.

 

“And he just threw you into the zombie’s way?” Shinobu nodded silently “not cool man. You have a slight bump, but it’s nothing to worry about. Your throat has been put under a lot of strain, it might swell later and you’ll see some bruising that’s fine. If it doesn’t calm down after a week or so or you feel any other symptoms let me know.”

“Thanks” he replied in a quiet voice. Tsumori looked like he wanted to say something, but at that very moment the door flew open revealing an angry looking Miyagi.

 

Shinobu’s eyes widened at the sight of his lover, he didn’t want to be seen like this. Miyagi took his face in his hands and turned his head side to side

“I’m fine.” Shinobu said in a quiet voice, but Miyagi didn’t stop, running hi hand up and down Shinobu’s sides trying to find a bone or limb out of place. “I’m fine.” He said again, voice stronger this time. Tsumori took the chance to slip out. Miyagi’s hands found the bandages on his throat. Without misplacing them too much, he peaked beneath to see the bruised flesh.

“I’m going to kill him.” Shinobu jumped up

“Miyagi don’t be stupid.”

“I’m not being stupid I’m going to end him with my bare hands.”

Shinobu groaned but couldn’t help the little happiness that bloomed inside him at the sight of his lover defending him. He hopped from his spot on the bed (which was actually just a desk covered in blankets) and grabbed Miyagi’s arm, preventing him from storming out and confronting Takahiro.

“Miyagi!”

“How could he be so stupid as to let this happen to you? He was too damn slow! I knew he was a dunce but this is ridiculous. It’s a fucking zombie apocalypse for god’s sake!” he kicked the door and immediately regretted it because a burning throbbing in his toe was not helping his anger dissipate. The feeling of Shinobu wrapping his arms around is waste pulling him into a back hug, however, was.

“Miyagi, calm down. I just want…” Shinobu leant his head against Miyagi’s back and breathed in his scent. The older man’s breath hitched.

“I know he didn’t mean it.” Miyagi said through gritted teeth “but the thought of losing you, after all this…” Shinobu gripped him tighter.

“You don’t have to say it.”

“I want to.”

“Saying it will make it real.”

“I’d die without you.”

Could Miyagi hear his heart beating? Could he hear the new life those few words triggered in his body? It was enough to make the throbbing in his head and throat disappear almost entirely.

 

Suddenly he pulled away from Miyagi and approached the door. The older man frowned in confusion

“Where are you-” the lock clicked shut. His eyes widened. Shinobu turned to face Miyagi hands behind his back so the older man wouldn’t see the slight tremor in his fingers.

“Miyagi.”

“Shinobu…”

“It’s been too long.” He walked forward, swaying his hips in that way he knew Miyagi liked. Miyagi walked back until the backs of his legs hit the desk, making him fall down on to it. Shinobu crawled into his lap straddling him. He took his time pushing his lover down on to his back. His hands trailed from the tops of his shoulders, down his back and to the tips of his fingers. He intertwined the digits with his own and brought them to his mouth. Looking Miyagi dead in the eye, he licked the older mans large fingers. He saw that fire in his eyes intensify and he felt something else beginning to get hotter too. He smirked as he sucked Miyagi’s fingers suggestively.

“Fuck Shinobu.” He growled. He pulled his hand away, simultaneously taking control and bringing the blonde teen closer to him. He kissed him rough and hard, gaining entrance almost immediately in his desperation for closeness. The youth moaned against his mouth and took his bottom lip between his teeth, pulling and nibbling at it until it was swollen and red. Miyagi crushed Shinobu’s lithe form against his own and pushed his hand beneath his shirt. He made a conscious effort to avoid the risen teeth marks of the bite, which Shinobu was still self-conscious about. His hand snaked around to caress his spine, running his hand up and down, counting the digits in a surprisingly gentle move, given that they were practically fucking each others mouths with their tongues by this point. Miyagi’s hand move from Shinobu’s back to his chest, capturing one of the little buds in his fingers and eliciting a gasp from the other man. He broke their kiss

“Let me take care of you today, Shinobu.” The blonde’s eyes widened in surprise. He really liked to give back to Miyagi as much pleasure as he gave him, was it really okay to just use Miyagi like this, even if he wanted to? Another rough kiss and squeeze of his nipple convinced him that yes, this was very much, okay.

 

Miyagi flipped their positions, so that Shinobu was beneath him, their faces level. He guided Shinobu’s shirt over his head and resumed his kiss all in one swift movement. His hand moved down his chest and to the hardness in his crotch. Shinobu gasped at the contact, making noises which were turning Miyagi on so much. He moved the kiss away from his lips, along Shinobu’s jawline and neck. He only softly kissed at the base of his lover’s neck, where the bandages stopped and soft pale flesh began. He kissed each bruise gently before resuming the rough pace and biting down on his collar bone.

“Ah! Miyagi!” Shinobu moaned as the man sucked on his collar and palmed his cock through his jean simultaneously. He writhed against him, begging for more with his moans. Miyagi was not going to miss an opportunity to oblige him. Leaving his collar bone he moved to Shinobu’s chest. He stopped, turning and resting his head just for a second, to hear Shinobu’s heartbeat. He felt like this heart was pumping new life into him with every beat. He wanted to make their hearts beat as one, erratically and breathtakingly fast. He turned his head and licked Shinobu’s nipple. The teen shuddered, arms moving to grip Miyagi’s arms encouragingly. Miyagi licked again, circling the flesh until the sensitive skin was glistening and wet like untouched snow just beginning to melt.

“Hnnn Miyagi, more like that…” the older man bit down gently with his teeth, massaging the pink flesh between them. He could almost feel the heat spreading through his lovers body, he could hear his heartbeat racing. He moved across Shinobu’s chest, other hand still working the abandoned nub, to satisfy the other. He licked and bit and then he sucked on the pink flesh. He rolled his tongue and sucked until Shinobu was arched into him and calling his name. He released the flesh with a pop, leaving a purple hickey write on his nipple. Shinobu was rock solid now. Miyagi too, as beginning to uncomfortable at the strain in his pants. Sensing each others discomfort, the pair began peeling off their remaining clothes, all the while ducking down to kiss or suck any plane of flesh the could.

 

When Miyagi saw the debauched Shinobu, flushed chest heaving, beneath him, he was suddenly struck by inspiration.  A grin crept over his fatures.

“What are you grinning at... old man?” Shinobu murmured in his daze of heat and desire. Miyagi’s grin only widened.

“Turn around for me, Shinobu.” The blonde, curious expression on his face, did as he was told and turned, presenting the soft white flesh of his ass. Miyagi wanted to fuck him right there and then, but he wanted to make this really good for Shinobu. And he had just the trick to do it. He kneelt behind Shinobu and massaged the flesh of his ass beneath his fingers, kissing the flesh then moving to…

 

“Fuck!” Shinobu moaned into the hard wood of the desk. Miyagi’s tongue was hot and wet against his entrance, poking tasting the puckered velvety flesh and occasionally pushing himself inside. “Ah! M-Miyagi!” his voice was embarrassingly loud and it only made him flush a deeper shade of scarlet than he already was. He would never admit that, as much as he hated the thought of someone hearing Miyagi going down on him whilst he was bent over a desk stark naked, it kind of turned him on. He swore again when Miyagi’s tongue was joined by his fingers. Two digits scissored inside of him along side the wet heat, occasionally curling up to caress that soft bundle of nerves which made Shinobu fall apart even more.

“Miyagi, I won’t last.” He moaned as Miyagi’s fingers dug deeper, 3 of them now joining his tongue. They curled into him again “Ah! M-Miyagi! Please!”. Caving to his lover’s pleas, Miyagi pulled his fingers and tongue out of Shinobu’s ass, instead leaning over his panting form. The blonde moaned at the loss of contact

“Someone’s needy.” Miyagi grinned “I wanted to take my time.” He pulling back with a smirk on his face, Shinobu was having none of it. He pushed himself away from the desk and grinded against Miyagi’s groin. “Fuck it.” Shinobu almost laughed in awe of his seductive powers. Miyagi lined himself up, hands firmly on Shinobu’s hips pushing through the tight ring of muscle until he was completely sheathed inside.

“Holy shit!” He cried out in pleasure.

“Language.” Miyagi teased.

“Shut up, old man” he gasped adjusting to the feeling of his lover inside him. “fuck me till this desk breaks.” Miyagi needed no more encouragement. He pulled out halfway before thrusting back in, gasping at the drag of his cock against the velvety walls of Shinobu’s ass. He kept moving, building up a rapid pace, Shinobu writher beneath him, gasping and moaning and making the hottest fucking sounds which Miyagi would record in his mind for later. The blonde shifted himself, moving to meet Miyagi’s thrust halfway.

“Sh-Shinobu, ah” Miyagi gasped. They were both close, all Miyagi had to do was adjust the angle of his hips slightly and Shinobu fell apart.

“Oh my god Miyagi” he cried out as the older man hit that sensitive spot over and over. Shinobu let out a final cry as heat pooled at the base of his spine and he came all over the desk. His walls tightened around Miyagi’s cock, the older man only had to thrust in once or twice more, before he felt himself release inside the younger man. He pulled out slowly, giving Shinobu a chance to catch his breath and turn around to face him. The younger man pulled his button up over his shoulders but couldn’t be bothered to do it up. Instead he opted to sit on the floor, pulling Miyagi (now wearing his pants) down with him to use as a pillow. He leant back against the taller man’s broad chest and allowed himself to get lost in the warm arms hugging him from behind.

 

“10 out of 10.”

“Don’t rate my love making skills.” Miyagi groaned as he buried his face into the younger man’s neck, occasionally placing butterfly kisses on the milky flesh. Shinobu closed his eyes, reveling in the peace and pretending that they weren’t sitting on the floor of some random office block, but instead were in their home, in a world where zombies were just a thing of horror movies. He sighed.

“You’re thinking about something. I can feel it.” Miyagi’s voice was muffled against Shinobu’s flesh, it tickled.

“Just the usual, about how messed up this whole situation is.” Miyagi adjusted his head so that his chin was resting on the blonde’s shoulder, his eyes were facing forward looking at nothing in particular.

“Well there are a whole bunch of messed up situations going on right now, let alone a zombie apocalypse.”

“Like what?”

“You and me for starters. This is more than a bit questionable.”

“Old news.”

“Then there’s the whole Haruhiko, Akihiko, Misaki melodrama.”

“Not our problem. If it’s really bothering you, we can just go do our own thing.” Miyagi looked at him with raised eyebrows

“We wouldn’t last a day on our own.”

“Who says we wouldn’t? I like everyone here, and sure I don’t want any of them to die. But…” Shinobu trailed off. He didn’t want to voice it because once he let his fear see the light of day they would become real. Miyagi noticed his apprehension and tightened his grip just enough to comfort Shinobu’s nerve a little.

“Tell me.”

“I don’t feel safe here anymore. Ever since the subway incident, and after today, this is going to sound crazy, but I think- I think someone is following us.” Miyagi gaped, he had not been expecting that. Shinobu pulled his knees to his chest to make himself smaller. “I knew it you think I’m crazy.”

“What? No, Shinobu I’d never make light of something like this” Miyagi protested. Shinobu turned in his lap, eyes seeking out validation from the older man. The black haired drew his eyebrows together in contemplation “Shinobu, it- it may just be paranoia. We’re so used to looking over our shoulders and sleeping with one eye open at night, that we’re expecting danger. This is normal. Even more now that we know Takahiro isn't necessarily on our side in all this.” He rubbed Shinobu’s arm in what he hoped was a reassuring gesture. But the blonde was clearly not happy

“Miyagi please listen to me when I say this. Ever since Takahiro joined I’ve had this bad feeling. Like there’s something coming, something lurking in the shadows. There are echoes of it everywhere but whenever I feel like we're about to make sense of it, something seems to lead us astray.” Shinobu took a shaking breath “I think he’s a bad man, Miyagi, like the real kind of bad.”

“Shinobu...”

“Just don’t say anything.” Shinobu said as he settled back against Miyagi’s chest. “One problem at a time…”

 

Shinobu knew something was wrong, even if his lover couldn’t see it. He couldn't help but feel like the longer Takahiro was with them, the more danger they were putting themselves in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So i have some explaining to do it seems... in short, I'm a stressed university student, who's trying to get a degree whilst moving to japan and that means all the stress is happening right now.
> 
> I've also just been assaulted by plot bunnies these past few weeks and have made myself promise not to upload ANY of them until Marukawa Knights and AWH are done! But as a taster, I have an ABO Misaki/ Akihiko and a future ABO (Aka grown up with kids) Shinobu/miyagi in the works.


	21. Last night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some of the characters may seem OOC in this chapter but that's kind of necessary because I want to get this plot moving, literally. This will be the last chapter in the Office building (thank god because I hated that setting so much) and there probably won't be a lot more sexy times after this for.. reasons. But if you're a fan of angst and Hurt/comfort then you'll love where this is going.
> 
> Your comments are my life force so please leave some if you want!

It had only been a few hours since Shinobu and Miyagi brought back the news of the hospital, and now everyone was gathered around the main room listening to Nowaki, Haruhiko and Takano explain the plan. They were an odd combination, everyone had thought so when the two groups first joined up, but somehow their skills were all complementary.

 

Nowaki was a more natural leader than Tsumori, who preferred background work despite his extra years of experience. “It’s safer for you guys if I stay out of the line of fire, that way if one of you lot get’s a limb blown off there’s more chance you’ll survive it.” Had been his reasoning. Nowaki, with his scientific brain and medical knowledge, immediately rose to leadership among them.

 

Haruhiko was the oldest, which meant he garnered a degree of respect where hierarchy was concerned, but his true power lay in his knowledge of the weapons they had. Of what they had brought with them from the mansion, much of it was still intact. Although the editors had brought ammo and supplies with them, they lacked practical weapons. Haruhiko took charge of distributing and rationing bullets and knives (there had been a rumor that he had even given Onodera a grenade, but no one had seen it in use just yet.) He knew what he was doing and knew how far they could get on how little ammo. This made him pretty indispensable.

 

Takano was a mediator, a diplomat who knew how to solve problems efficiently. This definitely came from his experience working at Marukawa. If you had an issue, Takano could solve it.

 

The three had spent the better half of the afternoon, whilst the others packed heir supplies, drafting a plan.

“We need to leave at first light. We can’t go today, it’s already too dark to move freely, plus the chompers get more active at night.” Haruhiko said as he looked at their list of weapons

“True. If we leave here by 9:00, and the trip takes 3 hours on foot, that leaves us with more than enough time to fuck up along the way.” Takano added from his seat in the corner

“Actually, Hiro-san will only survive 3 to 4 hours off life support. At first I thought we could keep him sedated but that’s too risky. We need to be giving him adrenaline shots every half hour, if we want to keep him stable. That's the only thing which has been keeping him awake recently.” Nowaki frowned but didn’t dwell on the deteriorating condition of his husband. “The thing is, we only have exactly three hours worth of adrenaline.”

“So we can’t fuck up?” Haruhiko asked

“We can’t fuck up.”

 

They sat in silence for a minute, absorbing this new information. It was going to be tricky, but there had to be a way. Takano was the first to speak

“It’s doable.”

“How?”

“Haruhiko, do we have enough ammo to move in groups whilst still keeping each group well defended?”

“Just about, the last groups would be at a disadvantage though.”

“Okay, here’s what we do…”

 

~~~

“…We will move in two groups. The first group will be led by Shinobu and Miyagi, your job will be to clear a path for the medical team. We'll transfer Hiroki using one of the cars out front, Takahiro managed to collect enough petrol to power a small vehicle, which will take our heavy supplies, along with Hiroki to the hospital. The advance parties will keep the road clear at all costs. We will all leave here at 9:00 exactly. Once you reach your designated section, wait until the next groups rejoins you.” Takano reached into his backpack and pulled out two flares “you all have these in your packs, if something happens, use them and we will come help you. Any questions?”

"Wouldn't it be better to leave some fighters with the car? Like a convoy or something?" Onodera asked curiously

"Nowaki and I will be in the car, its small, so after supplies only two people can fit in. But if you guys do you job well then there will be no problem."

“I don't understand, why aren’t we all just travelling together?” Yukina asked frowning, this plan was not popular it seemed.

“If we all go together and encounter a group of zombies we all slow down. If we go in groups, the strongest can carve a route for the weakest to make it through easily.”

 

Takano continued when no more questions came his way. “It’s not going to be easy, and a lot could go wrong. But one thing is certain, Hiroki can only spend 3 hours off life support. We need everyone to stay calm and focus on the mission. Which is why I need a few people in this room to think about whether upholding their personal opinions and issues with others, is worth sacrificing the group.”

 

A solemn silence fell on the men gathered. Hatori snuck a glance at Takahiro, who was staring daggers at Haruhiko. Misaki wasn’t looking but he could feel a pair of eyes on him, he had a feeling Haruhiko was looking his way. Akihiko, kept his eyes firmly on the ground. If anything was likely to trigger something between them, it was probably going to be a high risk, life or death trek across no man’s land.

 

“We need to get supplies together. Everyone clear as much as you can.” People stood, beginning to file out of the room. Akihiko subtly made his way over to Misaki

“You’re on watch now right?” Misaki nodded

“yeah but I need to go to the armory first.”

“I’ll come with you.” Misaki frowned

“Why? You already have-” But when he looked over he saw that recognizable look in Akihiko’s eyes. He blushed immediately.

“Baka Usagi, there’s no way I’m letting you do anything.”

 

~~~

 

Akihiko pushed him up against the wall, lips pressing hard against his own. They had lost some of the urgency of their first night together, but their desire was not at all diminished. Misaki moaned as he felt Akihiko rub against his crotch. When Akihiko’s lips detached from his own to suck on his neck he spoke, in a gasping voice

“U-usagi-san, I can’t do this now. I have to go on watch.”

“But I need to recharge on Misaki.” He whined as his large hand slid beneath Misaki’s shirt.

“Usagi-san! Anyone could walk in.” Akihiko pulled away, looking up at his debauched lover.

“Then we’ll give them a show.” He ducked his head beneath Misaki’s t-shirt and kissed up his chest.

“Usagi-san!” Misaki moaned as wet lips locked onto the sensitive skin of his nipples. His face burned as his arousal grew. If they kept this up, then he’d never be able to get to his watch on time. But it felt so good and there was something about doing things like this in an open space which made Misaki’s heart race.

‘God I hope this hasn’t awoken anything in me…’ the brunette thought. ‘An exhibitionist fetish would be the most inconvenient thing ever right now.’

 

As the words raced through his head he heard voices coming down the corridor. Misaki froze

“Usagi-san someone’s coming.” A silver head appeared from beneath his shirt

“Already? You’ve not been that quick since-”

“Not me! Actual people.” Akihiko glanced at the door, ears alert and sighed. He stood up and pulled Misaki’s shirt down, smoothing his hair. His heart fluttered at the gentleness of the actions. However, his frown returned when he thought of the risky situation Akihiko had put them in, Misaki turned and walked pointedly towards the boxes of ammo. He was caught half way in a back hug

“we’ll finish this later.” Misaki whirled around, blushing fiercely. The taller man released him seconds before Onodera walked in

 

“Misaki I’m on watch with you.” The brunette nodded still blushing, his chest rising and falling rapidly. The other man frowned in worry “Are you okay it looks like you have a fever? You’re all red and breathless?”

“I’m-”

“He’s fine” Akihiko grinned from the doorway. Onodera turned in surprise, only just registering that the other man was there. His eyes widened and it seemed as though he suddenly put one and one together. He blushed, almost redder than, Misaki

“I-I can come back…”

“No!” Misaki yelled gripping Onodera tightly. “Usagi-san leave!” The silver haired man winked at him, then turned out the door.

 

~~~

 

“Hatori.”

Shinobu had followed the man out of he main room into an empty corridor near the front of the building. One wall was entirely made of glass, making it a useful vantage point from which they could observe the carnage below without getting caught up in it. Today the city was eerily quiet, aside from his own voice and the feint sounds of the others from the rooms around them, it looked as thought not a soul was about. Hatori stopped, he clearly hadn’t realized he was being followed, and looked over. If he was surprised to see Shinobu, he didn’t show it.

“Shinobu? What can I do for you?” The blonde looked determinedly into the older man’s eyes. They were ringed with red and lifeless. Shinobu hadn’t known the man for very long, but he could sense that the loss of this Chiaki had been a huge blow for him. But he had also sensed something else, his anger directed at a certain Takahashi.

“You have a reason to hate Takahiro too?” Hatori seemed to become alert at his words. The brunette turned to face him completely

“I thought I was hiding it well.” Shinobu felt the corner of his mouth tug into a weak grin

“Somehow the quiet seething rage was a give away.”

“I suppose… It’s still hard for me to think about. I think you know enough from the others to understand why I have these feelings towards the man.”

“I’m sorry,” Shinobu looked down at his feet uncomfortably “I didn’t mean… I didn't want…”

“It’s okay, Shinobu. But why are you asking about this now?”

The blonde looked up at Hatori, opened his mouth, closed it, looked over his should then, finally said

“Do you think Takahiro did it?” Hatori went pale “It’s forward, I’m sorry, but I have to know.”

 

The man was silent for a long time. Shinobu was scared that he’d overstepped his boundaries. He didn’t want to upset the other man, but if his suspicions were right then it was essential that they dealt with Takahiro before it was too late. Hatori caught his gaze, his eyes were dark

“I’m certain. He killed Chiaki.”

“I think, I think he did the same to me.”

“What do you mean?”

“He wanted to kill me. We were on watch together but he let a clicker attack me. He would have let it kill me but he stopped it. I don’t know why.” Hatori to a step towards Shinobu, gripping his shoulders

“If that’s true then we have something to work with. We can confront him, if we get the others to believe us.”

“They don’t suspect him?” Hatori shook his head

“They may have voted against him, but they think I’m grief stricken. Takano has let me deal with this on my own for the time being, but I think that was mainly out of sympathy. We need to expose Takahiro.”

“Or deal with him ourselves.” Shinobu added seriously. Hatori grimaced

“I’m not against that.” He replied dropping his arms. Shinobu’s gaze drifted out the window, the sun was beginning to set behind the burnt out shells of buildings

“Why do you think he’s doing it?” his eye caught sight of a single chomper limping through the streets below

“I don’t know. Both you and Chiaki are immunes, but that’s the only link. I can’t imagine why he let you survive…” Hatori’s mind seemed to click something into place. He looked down at Shinobu with a strange expression on his face.

“What is it?” Hatori said nothing, instead he pulled a battered blue phone from out of his pocket. The blonde was even more confused now. “Why do you have that?”

“Everything Takahiro did in the first weeks of us meeting him revolved around this phone. He would sneak off to talk to someone when he thought we were asleep, he pretended it was broken when in reality it not only has signal but also a pretty full battery. In the subway too, right before Chiaki died, the phone was on in his pocket, as if it had recently been used.”

Shinobu took the phone in his hands. He hadn’t realized that they were shaking. Something was wrong, something was very wrong and he didn’t know how to deal with it anymore. He had made peace with it long ago, but this phone. _How did he have this phone?_ Hatori noticed Shinobu’s distress

“Shinobu are you okay?” The shorter man looked up with horrified eyes.

“This is my sister’s phone.”

 

 ~~~

 

“You’re avoiding me.” Misaki jumped, whirling around to face what he had thought was an empty room.

“H-Haruhiko…” his heart begun to pick up pace. He couldn’t face the other man right now. How could he even begin to explain the eclectic mix of regret, sorrow and fear he felt towards the man? Regret for leading him on, sorrow for the heartbreak he would have to bestow upon him, and fear of what he might do in his anger. Who he might tell and what he might say. He had been avoiding him for this very reason. At some point, Akihiko would have to know about what had happened between them. “I-I’m supposed to be on watch soon, I really can’t-”

“You’re lying.” He backed Misaki against a wall and leant an arm against it, trapping him there. Misaki didn’t want to have this conversation now. He looked at the ground, unwilling to meet the hard gaze boring in to his very soul.

“I don’t know what to say…”

“I don’t care what you say, just make it the truth.” Misaki let out a shaky breath.

“Usagi-san and I are back together… and we’re staying together.” Haruhiko dropped his head, Misaki felt the black haired mans’ forehead buried in his hair. For a moment, he thought Haruhiko would hit him, or kiss him, or scream at him, or all three.

 

“I love you.” Misaki flinched, his hands gripping Haruhiko’s arms tightly

“Stop it.” His voice was shaking

“Do you hate me?”

“No. I couldn’t hate you after… after everything we've been through. After all you’ve done for me.” Misaki dropped his head. This seemed to tell Haruhiko everything he needed to know

“But?” He felt a hand lift Misaki’s face so that their eyes were only inches apart.

 

Misaki tensed, but Haruhiko did nothing. He simply stayed like that for a few seconds, then pulled himself away, moving so he had his back to Misaki. Despite everything, the man had changed. He had shown Misaki more kindness, given him more comfort and compassion than he had ever thought imaginable. He had grown, somewhat, and if they’d met in another lifetime, maybe they could have had something. But Misaki wouldn’t give Akihiko up for the world. They had saved eachother in more ways than he could count. In spite of everything they’d been through together, there was simply no space for Haruhiko in his heart. As if he sensed Misaki’s train of thought, he turned, expression impassive and asked

“Was there ever a chance for us?”

Misaki had promised to be honest.

“There was something,” Misaki paused for what felt like too long, unsure of how to express his feelings. Haruhiko waited patiently “but we both know whatever it was would never have survived.”

“Because of my brother?”

“He has my heart, it beats in his chest, it’s part of him now as much as his is part of me. Even if I wanted to give you my heart, it’s not mine to give anymore.”

 

The man Haruhiko had become over the past few months seemed to disappear then. It was strange, looking into the eyes of someone he had come to care for and seeing a stranger looking back at him. The older man left the room and Misaki watched him go. He stood frozen against the wall for a minute or so, then he walked over to the corner where he had put down his machete and pushed it through his belt. He had to go find Onodera, there watch was starting.

 

~~~

 

“I think there’s something wrong with Misaki.”

Akihiko managed to hide the anxiety he was feeling in his heart. Takahiro had pulled him aside, when Misaki was busy sorting out his weapons in their makeshift armory. The silver haired man had been worried. He knew it was irrational, it was unlikely that Haruhiko knew anything about their relationship, and the words he had just said had confirmed that, but something in the man’s expression put him on edge.

“What do you mean?”

“He’s, he’s…” Takahiro was struggling to put his thoughts into words. Akihiko put a supportive hand on his friend’s back

“Just, start from the beginning.” Takahiro’s eyes met Akihiko’s sympathetic ones. He could see the man visibly relax under their gaze.

“He’s been different since we reunited, there’s something distracting him. It’s keeping us apart and we have to be open with each other, I’m all he has left and I don’t want to lose him to… whatever it is that’s troubling him.”

“But we’re all like that… worried about who’s going to die next whether we will make it another day. I’m sure it’s normal.” Takahiro shook his head

“we’ve been here about a week right?” Akihiko nodded. “I saw him do something… weird when we first arrived. Since then, he’s snuck out of our room, every time. Whenever I wake up he’s gone.” the brunette sighed, his breath was shaky “Only once did I catch him leaving the room at night,”

Akihiko withdrew his hand. He was scared if he kept it there, Takahiro would feel his guilt, seeping off him in waves. _He can’t possibly be talking about us? Why would he be letting me this close if he had?_ Akihiko just couldn’t figure out what he was missing?

“…I followed him, saw him go into a room, but it was too dark to see clearly who he was with. So I got closer.” Akihiko was close to hyperventilating, every night Misaki had snuck over to him.

“I didn’t see who it was,”

This was it.

“but I heard… disgusting sounds, moans. I could guess what they were doing in there. Misaki… he said a name.”

They’d been found out.

“He said Haruhiko.”

 

Akihiko frowned. Wait, what? That was… not what he had been expecting Takahiro to say at all

“You think Misaki was,”

“is,” Takahiro corrected “in a relationship with Haruhiko. Yes.”

“Have you spoken to either of them about this?”

“No.”

“I think maybe, it would be a good idea, if you actually asked him.” He grabbed Takahiro’s hand and pulled him up.

“W-Wait! Usagi-san!”

 

Akihiko didn’t know what he was doing. Or why he was doing it. Some kind of instinct had reared its head inside him. He wanted to hear Misaki deny it. He wanted to hear him say that he didn’t have feelings for Haruhiko. Because even if they’d been apart, there was no way anything would ever happen between the two.

 

It was one of those things which had just become a standard in their relationship. Akihiko’s (long dead) love for Takahiro was left in the past, untouched because it was a closed chapter of their lives. Since they joined forces, Akihiko had been able to create an, albeit unstable, peace with his brother because he knew that Misaki was no longer naïve enough to be swept away by the older man. This was just one of the many methods they used to keep their relationship strong. The only thing that would change that, was if one of them (Misaki or Akihiko) actively pursued something with the others. Akihiko knew he’d never go for Takahiro, but did he believe that Misaki wouldn’t develop feelings for Haruhiko? He grit his teeth, pulling Takahiro through the corridors and past the bewildered faces of their fellow survivors. Yes. He believed it.

 

The rounded a corner which led to the armory, the last place Akihiko had seen Misaki. The door was ajar just as he had left it, but through the opening he could see the tall black haired figure of his older brother and trapped between Haruhiko and the wall, was Misaki. He stopped short, so suddenly that Takahiro almost collided with him.

“Akihiko what are you doing?” Takahiro said but the silver haired man shushed him and pulled him up to the door. Akihiko didn’t want to spy on his lover. He was scared that what he was seeing would confirm everything Takahiro had said to him. He needed to know the full picture, there had to be more to this. But he couldn’t go barging in there without making Takahiro suspicious. Reluctantly, he held himself back. Instead of entering the room they moved to the wall, where they could just about see the two men. They listened, straining their ears.

 

“I love you.” Misaki flinched, his hands gripping Haruhiko’s arms tightly

“Stop it.” His voice was shaking

“Do you hate me?”

“No. I couldn’t hate you after… after everything we've been through. After all you’ve done for me.” Misaki dropped his head.

“But?” He saw Haruhiko lift Misaki’s face to his. Akihiko was ready to run in there and punch his brother. But then the taller man pulled away. Akihiko prayed that that was the end of it. But after a short moment, Haruhiko spoke again.

“Was there ever a chance for us?”

 

No. Of course there wasn’t how could his brother not have realized this after so long? Misaki would never-

 

“There was something.”

 

Misaki went silent, shuffling awkwardly. Haruhiko’s gaze turned cold. He couldn't stand the silence. Akihiko turned on his heel and walked away, hand still gripping Takahiro’s arm tightly. There was a logical explanation. There had to be. But no matter what he could do nothing now. Not with Takahiro here.

 

~~~

From his bedroom door, Misaki could see that the corridor was dark and completely deserted. He took a deep breath, and slipped out, closing the door softly behind him. He placed a hand on the wall. At night they had nothing more than the moonlight to guide them, and right now, in the innermost passages of the building, it was almost pitch black. He felt his way down the corridor towards Akihiko’s room. It was a route he had memorized by now, having done it for almost a whole week solidly. It felt strange knowing that by the time they reached the hospital he wouldn’t need to sneak around anymore. His encounter with Haruhiko today had made him more determined than ever to reveal his relationship with Akihiko to Takahiro. If they could just act closer in public, maybe Haruhiko would finally get the message. Maybe his feelings would finally sort themselves out, is what he really meant.

 

He walked out of the main corridor into a moonlit hallway. At the end of the hall was a stairwell, shrouded in darkness. It was eerie but Misaki knew he had to go this way. He took one step into the light and was met by a hand to his throat. He gasped and struggled, pushing the attacker off him. They let go fairly easily, but had done enough damage to leave a bright read bruise on his throat. Misaki coughed then turned to face the darkness.

“Misaki?”

“Shinobu?” The blonde stepped back, grasping his hand apologetically. “Sorry, you can never be too careful.” Misaki shook his head

“Don’t worry. What brings you out here?”

“I could ask you the same.” Shinobu’s voice was distant, it made Misaki uneasy.

 

They stood in the hallway, illuminated by moonlight but still feeling in the dark. Shinobu took a step forward, walking past Misaki towards the stairwell. The brunette frowned

“Are you okay?” Shinobu stopped but didn’t turn around

“I’m fine. Almost dead at the hands of your brother but otherwise, fine.”

“He didn’t mean it. He saved your life.”

“Or so he says.”

“Shinobu, I don’t want to fight with you.”

“Neither do I.” the younger man sounded tired. He ran a hand through his hair, finally looking Misaki in the eye. “I want to be honest with you. Takahiro is not on our side.”

“I know.”

“No I mean- wait; you know?” Misaki nodded

“He’s not the same person he was before. It’s like he has two faces, one which he shows to Akihiko and I and one he shows to the rest of you. It’s not like I haven’t noticed.” Misaki leant against the wall. Shinobu seemed conflicted, like he wanted to talk to Misaki about everything he knew but also as if he wasn’t sure. He settled on a middle ground

“Hatori and I are working on something. We want to… confront Takahiro.” Misaki looked up fearfully

“you can’t hurt him.” Shinobu grit his teeth

“We won’t. But something’s coming and I can’t say that I’ll be able to control what happens when it does.” Misaki moved over to the stair case slowly. Beside him Shinobu was motionless.

 

Takahiro was his brother, as far as he knew, his only family. But he could tell that he had done enough to make the others suspicious. Even he hadn’t voted in his favor when they had gotten together to talk about the problems he was causing.

 

“I don’t know who to trust anymore.” He said, pausing at the edge of the dark stairwell. Shinobu had backed away from him, until he was only just visible at the other end of the hallway

“Trust yourself, Misaki.” The brunette gripped the bannister. He had to go. He turned around but Shinobu had already disappeared into the night.  Misaki carried on up the stairs. He had to talk to Akihiko.

 

Misaki reached the door moments later. His head was a mess, filled to the brim with worries and problems he just needed to air them out in front of someone. He had… repressed, for lack of a better word, his issues with Haruhiko. Until this morning he had been worried that the other man would say something to Akihiko, but after their talk this morning Misaki felt as if that situation was calming down. Maybe it would be alright. He walked through the door.

 

Akihiko’s room, if it could be called that, was a small office space. Like a lot of the other rooms in the building at least one wall, the back one, was made entirely of glass. A desk had been piled high with chair cushions and blankets, making a fairly decent single bed. It was a far better set up than his and Takahiro’s beds, which were essentially just sleeping bags on the floor. Misaki grimaced, he had grown rather fond of this room. It had kept their relationship well hidden from unfriendly eyes. Misaki’s eyes didn’t have to search for long before they found the pale form of his lover.

 

Akihiko was sitting cross legged on the ‘bed’. He was shirtless looking out of the glass window into the pitch black night. Once again their only light source was the moon and stars above. This was a nuisance at first but Misaki had come to appreciate just how beautiful the silver haired man looked in the moonlight. The soft light on his skin rippled like a waters surface, in time with his breathing. The shallows his collar bone and the dimples at the base of his spine were deepened by the lack of artificial light. Although he couldn’t see them, Misaki could imagine that his eyes would be sparkling as bright as the stars themselves. He let out a sigh he didn’t know he was holding. If he didn’t know any better, he’d say that the man before him was not a man at all, but a beam of moonlight. Realizing that he hadn’t said anything to announce his arrival, he voiced the first thing which came to his head,

“It’s kind of like our first night here isn’t it, Usagi-san.” Misaki said thoughtfully. You could hear the smile in his voice. Akihiko tilted his head slightly, shoulder muscles rippling beneath his skin as he turned to face the door way.

 

Misaki automatically knew something was on his lover’s mind. He seemed to be looking through him or just behind him, at something vague in the distance. Misaki drew his brows together in worry. He moved towards the bed and sat at the foot, crossing his legs in an imitation of Akihiko’s position. The man was still staring at where Misaki had been before. Misaki gulped

“Usagi-san?” a purple gaze slowly met his own

“Sorry, I was just… thinking.” He had gone from looking through Misaki all together to looking deeply into his eyes, as if searching for something. The brunette leant forward and took Akihiko’s hand in his own, squeezing it reassuringly

“You can talk to me.” A expression of unease fleeted across Akihiko’s face but he recomposed his features almost instantly. The taller man took a deep breath.

“Misaki I need to ask you a question.”

“Anything.”

“It’s about, Haruhiko.” Misaki’s heart nearly stopped. He didn’t want to talk about this, not now, he still wasn’t ready. “I know this is wrong but I have to be honest with you, I heard you speaking to him before.”

“You did?” Misaki almost whispered. Was the fear showing in his voice? Akihiko nodded

“I trust you. I knew that what I heard wasn’t the full story, and I won’t push you to relive what you went through before we met again, but please just tell me one thing.”

“What is it?”

“I heard you say that ‘There was something’ between you and Haruhiko. You didn’t mean that right? You were only saying that to let him down east weren’t you?” Misaki opened his mouth. Think fast. Tell the truth. Not the whole truth. Don't lie. All these thoughts were running through his mind it made him dizzy. Was there a way he could tell Akihiko without telling him?

“You’re right, I said those things to him then,” Misaki’s gaze was fixed on their clasped hands. “But…if that’s all you heard then you don’t know the rest of it.” Misaki let out a deep breath. “I have no feelings for him, I told him that today.”

“And you never have?” Akihiko asked. Misaki couldn’t look him in the eye. There was so much relief in the other mans voice how could he tell him the truth now?  
“Never.” He looked up. “There’s nothing for him in my heart.” Misaki untangled one of his hands and placed it on Akihiko’s own.

“you have my heart, it beats in your chest, it’s part of you now as much as yours is part of me. Even if I wanted to give him my heart, I wouldn’t be able to. It’s not mine to give anymore.”

 

It didn’t matter that his face was burning, or that he had said all that a little too quickly, all that mattered were the fingers in his hair and the soft gentle lips on his. Misaki leant into the sudden kiss, trying to reassure the man with his touches. He crept forward until he was almost in his lap, fingers caressing the sides of Akihiko’s toned body, drawing patterns into the soft skin. Akihiko’s arms tightened around him and pulled him close. Misaki gasped as he was pressed against the cold glass.  Akihiko placed butterfly kisses all over his jaw and torso. The kisses turned into sucks and bites as Misaki’s arousal began to grow. By the time Akihiko had thoroughly marked him Misaki was gripping the sheets tight and lifting his hips to encourage the silver haired man. Akihiko needed no more prompting than that. He stroked Misaki’s sides until his hands found the hem of his trousers. He undid the button and pulled them down with his boxers. Misaki lifted his arms and in a moment he was naked, sinking into the displaced cushions of the bed. On of Akihiko’s arms was holding him up whilst the other reached between them to hold Misaki’s length. The brunette moaned into the kiss as the older man began to stroke him, massaging the tip and working his way down. Through his lust filled haze Misaki realized that Akihiko was wearing his own trousers still. In a bold move (his hands shaking only a little), he reached beneath them and popped the button on the front. He felt him grin against his lips and immediately regretted his forwardness.

“I like this Misaki very much.” He purred as he sat back to kick of his trousers. Misaki caught his breath, and tried not to lose it again at the sight of Akihiko’s naked body. He leant forward to resume the hand job he had left half finished, but Misaki spoke first

“I just wanted… to be close to you… after so long apart.” Akihiko’s eager hands stilled. He pulled back to look at Misaki properly. The brunette’s eyes widened. He almost looked like he was about to cry. He pulled him into a tight embrace

“Misaki, I can’t even say how much you mean to me.” Misaki was bewildered at the sudden sensitivity that Akihiko was showing him. It warmed his heart. He slowly leant out of the embrace, mobbing so that his back was against the soft cushions of the bed.

“Show me then.” He almost whispered, but Akihiko heard him loud and clear. He brought his hand to Misaki’s mouth and inserted the digits for him to suck. His tongue liked up and down, coating them heavily. After a few moments Akihiko puled them out and moved to Misaki’s entrance. The brunette lifted his legs, allowing his lover better access. He felt a warm finger enter him quickly followed by another. He gasped. It didn’t hurt and he wasn’t that tight (they had been doing it almost every night for a week), but he’d never get over the feeling of his fiancés fingers inside him. He shuddered as another joined the two. They stayed like that for just a while, Akihiko working his entrance, Misaki moaning into their kisses. When Akihiko pulled out Misaki deepened the kiss, trying to keep as much contact between them as possible. Just as Akihiko bit down on his lip, he felt wet heat penetrate him, filling him to the brim.

“Aah” he moaned in pleasure as Akihiko brought him closer. “Please keep going, it’s fine” Misaki didn’t want him to wait, he just wanted him to come inside him. Leave a mark that only they could see. He pulled out halfway, then thrust back in. With each thrust the intensity built higher and higher. Misaki’s cock, even without touch, began to fill just from the feeling of his lover inside him. He adjusted his angle just as Misaki lifted his hips and the brunette gasped in pleasure. “Usagi-san!” Misaki couldn’t hold back his cries. The silver haired couldn’t contain himself, letting go and completely losing himself in the feeling of his lover. He thrust into him over and over until all of a sudden he lost himself. He came just as Akihiko let go of his release inside him. The road out each others orgasms, draining as much

as they could from the other.

 

Akihiko pulled out of Misaki slowly and lay down next to him. He pulled him close so that his head was on his chest. They both simply lay there, silent other than the sound of their breaths short and fast. After a while the tiredness was starting to get to Misaki, he closed his eyes.

“Misaki?”

“Hm?”

“You’re leaving before morning again aren’t you?” Misaki peaked through his half closed eyes. He nodded.

“This is the last time though.” Akihiko stared up at the ceiling

“I suppose you’re right.”

“Tomorrow, after we get to the hospital, we’re telling Takahiro.” It was a statement, not a question. He felt Akihiko’s fingers intertwine with his own

“And then there will be no more secrets between us.” Akihiko kissed the digits, closing his own eyes.

“No more secrets…” Misaki agreed, allowing sleep to claim him.

 

That night he dreamt of Takahiro, standing over Haruhiko’s dead body, holding a knife to Akihiko’s throat. Shinobu was crying in the corner as the walls melted away to reveal a horde of the undead waiting to pounce on them.

He could hear the blonde saying “you could have stopped this” through his tears, over and over. Akihiko refused to look at him, even when Takahiro was cutting his throat. This was the nightmare which awoke him at the break of dawn, only when he opened his eyes the memory of the dream was just out of his reach.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also I started an art tumblr: emmacityart.tumblr.com  
> Please check it out because I might make art for this comic and i don't know how to include it in the fic itself!


	22. Revelations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group make their way to the hospital and uncover some unpleasant truths along the way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so before we get into this, I just want to acknowledge that I am the absolute worst and I hope that these 6672 words are a sufficient apology on my part for not posting in ages.
> 
> Also I want to thank Aseel11 who commented about losing hope in me ever updating for literally motivating to spend the last three days working on this chapter! Sorry for worrying you!

Tokyo came alive at night. The worlds largest metropolis, stretching over miles and miles both above and below ground. A night like this would have been unlike any other busy and filled with people despite the lateness of the hours. It would have been like any night, if only those neon lights which blinded the population were shining. If tonight those lights were switched on, you’d see the people flooding the Shibuya crossing were missing limbs, their flesh was falling from their bones in thick meaty clumps and their eyes had rotted out of their sockets.

Some places weren’t as bad. Shibuya, Shinjuku maybe Akihabara? Those were where the hordes liked to hang out. Where they gathered to walk, drag, and run towards their next prey. Once they’d eaten their way through the next biggest area they would migrate, a sick kind of Tokyo drift. They ate their way through Harajuku, wrecked havoc on Shin-Okubo. They probably weren’t even hungry anymore, but they were still feasting.

They encountered a problem part way through their domination of the City. They couldn’t find anymore people to eat. And when they couldn't eat people, they started eating each other. The strongest ate the weakest and over the next few months the hordes got smaller, but damn did they get stronger. People were no longer attacked the way Shinobu was attacked in Costco all those months ago. There were no more waves of hundreds of chompers. No more chases. Instead there were one on one attacks, designed to dominate the weak and overwhelm the strong. This is the exclusive way the world worked in the latter months of the zombie apocalypse. This happened everywhere. Everywhere, but one place.

Down beneath the ground, further than you’d expect, is a basement. A bunker of sorts. It is hidden well and has been hidden for years. Built to withstand every possible attack, built beneath the institution which necessitated its creation. A hospital, with a research lab, and top of the line equipment, all to cater for a single person with a vision for the world. A single person who is sat behind a mahogany desk, drinking black tea, and waiting for a phone call from a bright blue cell phone positioned next to him. 

 

Everyone was ready to go. Misaki could just see Hiroki’s dazed form propped in the back seat of the car they had found. It was filled to the brim with medical equipment and ammo. In the front Nowaki and Tsumori were sitting alert, looks of determination in their eyes. Misaki gulped. It looked like nothing would stop them and he had a sneaky suspicion that if any of the others got in their way, it wouldn’t end well for them either.

“Everyone ready?” Takano called from the front. He too was tense and already surveying the scene. Behind him Shinobu and Miyagi were standing close. Miyagi had a hand comfortingly on the blonde’s shoulder, every now and again he would give it a tight squeeze as if to say “I’m here with you”. Misaki’s eye drifted to his left where Akihiko stood between him and his brother. If only they could be open like that. Still looking in Akihiko’s direction, Misaki’s eyes drifted over to Haruhiko, who was standing beside Hatori and speaking to him in a low inaudible voice. Feeling someone’s eyes in him, he looked over and for a moment locked eyes with Misaki. The younger man looked for the kind Haruhiko he had come to know in those irises but there was nothing left of him there. Misaki looked at the ground. This was something he would have to accept. It was his fault for leading Haruhiko on, he had initiated things between them more than once. He was hoping for too much. To keep the closeness that had developed between them, and yet to abandon him emotionally. It would take time for them to be comfortable again. Time, he hoped, that they would have. If today’s mission went well.

Onodera seemed to sense his inner turmoil and touched his arm. Misaki looked over to him, but Onodera pulled him closer  
“Misaki” he said in a low voice which suggested this was for his ears only “When we get to the hospital, whatever you decide to do about all this-” he nodded towards Takahiro and Akihiko, “we won’t let anything happen to you. I promise.”

Misaki smiled weakly “Thanks, I think… I think we need to talk about it, before it’s too late.” They turned away from each other. It seemed like all he needed was time, time to explain, to build and rebuild relationships. But he somehow found himself feeling more and more like his life would be easier if it just ended in the next 3 hours.

 

“You spoke to Shinobu?”  
“Yes, he’s with us.” Hatori confirmed. Haruhiko adjusted the rifle strap which was digging into his shoulder. “And he spoke to Misaki too.”  
“What?” Haruhiko frowned, that hadn’t been part of the plan.  
“He decided that on his own, I didn’t know.”  
“I don’t like the thought of Misaki getting in our way. If he knows, I’m sure he won’t just stand by whilst we interrogate his brother.” Hatori’s eyes sought out Takahiro  
“Interrogate? Is that all we’re going to do?”  
“Hatori for now, yes. But you will get your revenge, I promise.”  
“And if I die? Do you remember our promise?”  
“I do.” The pair were silence, the weight of their unspoken promise hanging over them.

“Misaki will hate you.”  
“He hates me already. It’s a feeling I’m getting used to again.”  
“Again?” Haruhiko frowned  
“We have a… complicated past, it’s something I’m not very proud of.” At that moment Misaki’s eyes somehow found his own. It was strange but he couldn’t help but remember all of the bad he had done; all the times he had tried to steal Misaki form Akihiko. These days it made him hurt a lot more than he’d admit. As much as he wanted to deny it he couldn’t be the villain he wanted himself to be.

 

At he head of this congregation filled with angst, loss and unresolved issues, Takano stood staring at the deteriorating wasteland they had come to know as their home. Months without care and the remnants of the great fire which had swept over the city had left Tokyo a shell of what it used to be. Through all of it they had survived. They had beaten the odds and gotten this far. So why did he feel like it was about to come to an end? He could feel the ripples of discord make their way through the group. Discord which seemed to originate from hatred of a single person. Takahashi Takahiro. Hatori believed that Takahiro had done something to Chiaki, Shinobu believed that he wanted him dead. But if Takahiro had wanted the boy dead why save him in the last moment? Would Takahiro really do anything to hurt them whilst his younger brother and best friend were still in the picture? If he knew about their relationship, would that change things? Takano was supposed to be an expert at planning out storyboards and figuring out what was supposed to come next. That had gotten him this far, but why couldn’t he figure out what the next page had in store.

It was as if he had been reading the story but not understanding the words. Not taking in the subtle clues and hints that would tell him all the answers he needed know. What was he missing? Who was he missing? He just didn’t have the answers anymore. And yet here he was, taking these people to a new place on the promise of finding a way to save the world. Was that even a promise he could make?

He felt the wrist on his watch chime three times. It was so quiet, but it resonated through the crowd like a church bell. The questions swimming around his mind right now could wait. Maybe he didn’t need to worry about the next page right now. Only what was happening now. He turned to face the stony faces of his co workers and friends

“Let’s head out.”

 

The doctors watched as one by one their companions walked down the steps of the office building and out of sight. Tsumori was hit with an immediate feeling of isolation. Yes, they had weapons, but suddenly going from the comfort of a large group to a significantly smaller one was unnerving.  
“Keep an eye on the clock. We can’t misjudge this.” Nowaki said from the passenger seat.  
“We still have 10 minutes before we need to go.” The noirette’s eyes flickered back to Hiroki and then to the road ahead  
“I hate waiting.”  
“That’s why I’m driving.” Tsumori grinned at him cheekily. They sat in silence for a while, until he said “2 minutes, get ready.”

Nowaki leant down to the foot of the passenger seat and pulled out a large but light machine gun. It was the only one they owned and they had been saving it for a time like this. It was their primary defence, their fastest most effective weapon. But it was loud and likely to attract more chompers than it repelled. It was a last resort, for when the others were dead and they were all the stood between the horde and a cure.

A murmur of life from the backseat brought Nowaki to attention. He turned to see Hiroki, eyes barely open, watching him with a pained expression. Nowaki instinctively reached out to him. To his surprise, Hiroki grasped his outstretched hand and pulled it close to his cheek.  
“N-nowaki…” Hiroki spoke as if it was using up all of his energy. I broke his heart.  
“Yes Hiro-san?” the brunette in the backseat nuzzled into his lovers touch and murmured something almost inaudible. Almost  
“I’m so hungry.” Nowaki flinched at the feeling of Hiroki’s tongue peeking out to taste his flesh. It was not a sexual action in any sense. Hiroki was hungry, for something other than food. Nowaki pulled his hand back, worried that he might awaken something in his lover that he’d rather lay to rest. Tsumori acted as if none of this happened.  
“Nowaki, eyes on the road. I need you to be 100% here for this. Are you ready?” Nowaki shouldered the machine gun  
“Ready.”

 

The first half hour was dead silent. All they could here were each others footsteps, and the distant rumble of an engine which let them know that Nowaki and the others were following, even though they couldn’t see them.

Miyagi was leading the group alongside Hatori, making sure they never strayed from their path. Bringing up the rear were the Usami brothers and Yukina, who would provide back up for anyone who happened to get themselves in a sticky situation. The others were all over the place; checking buildings or beneath burnt out cars for the signs of any chompers or hordes which may have passed by recently.

As the group passed through a particularly crumbled stretch of road, Shinobu ran over to them from the shell of a department store.  
“It’s clear. The first floor at least.” He said, slightly out of breath “But Chompers have definitely been there. At least 30 I’d say, there were some pretty fresh body parts on the floor.” Miyagi frowned  
“Damn it, this is the quickest way… Fine mark it. We’ll work out way around.” Shinobu nodded and dashed back to the building. From his bag he produced a can of bright blue spray paint which they had managed to find in the office supplies cupboard. He sprayed a large ‘X’ on the wall and began to mark their route on the cars, to show Tsumori where to drive so that he would follow them.

“I like this part of the plan the least.” Miyagi grumbled as Shinobu returned. The blonde wiped the sweat from his brow, accidentally spreading a little blue on his forehead as he did.  
“How come?”  
“It’s just… I feel like there’s no guarantee they’ll be able to find us at the end. What if they misinterpret the signs we leave them?” Shinobu shook his head  
“It’s the best way. We can’t let them drive right into a war zone. We have to do this so that they can drive through no problems. If we get stuck, at least they have a chance.”  
“I guess… But I still don’t like it.”  
“It’s logical.”  
“Then I like it less, smart ass.” Shinobu scoffed at him and waved the spray can in his lovers face tauntingly  
“Don’t test me old man. I have deadly weapons at my disposal.” Miyagi raised his hands in mock surrender  
“I give in. Go on brat, use your bratty words to-”  
“You have the right to remain silent.”

 

Takahiro watched the group as if through a clouded window. He felt somewhat… disconnected form the action. Sure he understood the immediate danger that they were all putting themselves in for the sake of, to be frank, a dead man. But all of this drama, and heartache and whatnot, felt so far away from him. He was on the road to success, all they had to do was make it to the hospital then his job would be done. Okay maybe the road there hadn’t been perfect; he’d lost the phone, had to kill a man and almost killed another. Good thing he remembered Shinobu’s last name or he might have fucked up that one. 

The calming bliss he was feeling, came to an abrupt end when Haruhiko came into view. His insides burned with rage. He felt like he could kill the man who forced Misaki to do those… things. He would, he thought, just not yet. Just like with Chiaki, the perfect opportunity would arise and he would be another step closer to his bliss. Misaki ran into his point of view, towards Akihiko.

His little brother put a hand on his best friend’s shoulder to steady himself, then leant in close to (Takahiro only assumed) tell him about a chomper or something he had encountered. When they moved apart Misaki’s hand lingered on Akihiko’s shoulder, despite him no longer needing the support. The silver haired man, instead of simply brushing off his hand, held it tenderly in his own for a moment, rubbed a circle in to the skin of his wrist then lowered it down gently. Takahiro’s eyes followed every movement. It reminded him of something, like something him and his wife used to do when they wanted to be near each other but couldn’t. Takahiro almost looked away, at the feeling of intimacy which emanated from their minimal exchange. Misaki nodded at Akihiko and then ran ahead towards Haruhiko. Takahiro watched intently. The moment Haruhiko and his brother locked eyes, they both jumped a little. Haruhiko stumbled a little on his feet in an attempt to step away from the smaller man. Both of them went very stiff. Misaki looked away, face flushed with… shame? Embarrassment? Takahiro couldn’t tell. He mumbled something then dared a glance back up at the older man, who was looking decidedly away form him now, before running past and towards Takano on the other side of the group.

What had happened between them? Between all three of them? Certainly whilst Misaki was living with Akihiko they became close, but that action made them look closer than himself and Misaki had been for years. It made no sense to him. And Haruhiko, Misaki’s supposed lover? What happened there? Could things have changed between them so quickly? Takahiro knew that he should have been relieved that his brother was finally out of that Usami’s clutches, but somehow he still felt apprehensive. What was he missing?

 

Takano was constantly surveying the perimeter of the group. He had eyes on everyone and on their surroundings; looking for anything that may cause them, or the car following problems. To his surprise and relief, they encountered no such obstacle for the first hour and a half of the trip. The only action, if you could call it that, was the occasional chomper getting in their way or the need for a diversion. They moved, all the while listening for that distant rumble in the silence which let them know that Tsumori was not far behind. It wasn’t ideal, but for now it was working.

Finally, like rain after a drought, they reached their halfway point. It was a comfort for them because this is where they would split.

“Everyone, come over here.” He called, motioning the rest to join him crouching in the shadow of a turned over food truck

“Do you all remember the plan?” They nodded in unison, “great, just to reiterate: Misaki, Akihiko, Takahiro and Haruhiko will stay here, and rendez vous with the car. If they don’t come by midday retrace our steps as far back as our first diversion, then come join us at the hospital.”  
“They shouldn’t be long; I could hear the rumbling of their engine not long ago.” Misaki added confidently. They got up not long after and readied themselves for the final leg of their trip.

“We’ll lead the way from here.” Yukina said, as Kisa stood beside him. Everyone patted them on the backs, or stumbled over a mix of “see you later” and “don’t get killed” before heading away from their rest stop and into the sea of buildings and roads.

As he turned the corner Takano took one last look over his shoulder. The splinter group were leaning against the side of the truck, drinking water and talking in low voices. Somehow, his unease was not comforted by the sound of a car engine rumbling in the distance.

 

“It’s weird”  
“What is?”  
“I don’t know with all the flooding below ground you’d think that the subways would collapse or something.” Misaki said as he gently kicked the ground beneath him. He jumped slightly when a rock came loose beneath his heel. Akihiko laughed.  
“I don’t think it’s the ground you need to be worried about.” Misaki grimaced, instantly remembering falling into that drain and almost becoming zombie food.  
“I’d be more worried about all this debris.” Haruhiko added from the sidelines “I suppose it’d give you a height advantage, or ground cover, but it’s the kind of thing that could easily work against you if you were cornered by chompers.”  
“We managed to avoid it pretty well.” Misaki replied nonchalantly  
“True, but every time we had to dump a car or accidentally started a fire, or dumped extra weight, we contributed to all this build up.”  
“Remember Costco? That was a mess.”  
“Damn it feels like years ago. We had no idea what we were doing then.” Haruhiko sighed  
“I think we were relying on other more capable adults to do the work for us.” The older Usami nodded  
“Kaoruko, Mizuki… they knew their stuff.”  
“Even your father had a clue, shame it didn’t really help him in the end.”  
“Your friend was hopeless, what was his name? Satou? Somi?”  
“Oh Sumi-Senpai. He had no clue.” Misaki laughed, a little sadly  
“You guys really spent a long time together didn’t you?” Akihiko’s voice punctured the little bubble Haruhiko and Misaki hadn’t realized they had gotten into. Misaki smiled at Akihiko, recognizing the familiar aura of jealousy which was coming from him in waves  
“Ahh Usagi-san, we’re just reminiscing. Don’t you ever think about what happened to the people around you? When was the last time you saw anyone from work? Your managers or Isaka-san?”  
“All dead. You know about Aikawa. Asahina went first, then Isaka, she told me that.” Misaki’s eyes widened in despair. He knew Akihiko cared for the people he worked with more than he would say. He put a hand on his lovers back in support.  
“do you think anyone else escaped form the mansion?”  
“What are you talking about?” Akihiko asked curiously. Haruhiko raised an eyebrow then continued  
“I mean, other than us there were a lot of people in that house. I sometimes think we can’t be the only ones who managed to escape. There were people from the streets, neighboring families, those people from Shinobu’s dad’s university”  
“Shinobu said that he saw so many chompers though. People barricaded themselves in the wrong places you know? I doubt many got out.” Misaki added sadly.  
“That must have been awful.” Takahiro added  
“You must have gone through something similar?” Akihiko asked. Takahiro seemed surprised at the question “It’s just, other than your family, you’ve never talked about it.”  
“Oh… I…” He looked away “I suppose I haven’t really told you the whole story of what happened to me have I.”  
“Onii-san… are you okay-”  
“I can hear them!” Akihiko said suddenly.

Everyone went silent and stood alert, eyes searching for the car. Sure enough the sound of rumbling grew louder, closer, but the car was nowhere in sight.  
“I wish we knew where they were coming from.” Misaki murmured. If he listened hard, he could hear the rumbling of the engines and the clicking of the gears. He froze.  
“Guys.”  
“Shh, we need to hear where they’re coming from.” Haruhiko interrupted  
“No god. Don’t you hear it?” confused, the others strained their ears. There was the familiar noise of rumbling, but there was something else. Something, wrong.  
Click. Click. Click.

They all shared one panicked look, before springing into action.  
“How many?” Haruhiko barked  
“Enough to make that much noise!?” Misaki’s mind was reeling. How did they get this so wrong?  
“We can’t fight that many!” Takahiro blurted from the sidelines  
“Then we hide, anywhere we can.”  
“Underground?”  
“No they’ll follow us down.” Misaki put his head in his hands, he felt like the world was spinning. He looked around frantically, trying to find anything which resembled a hiding place. “We can hide in that building!” Hand walked out into the open, towards the fairly intact structure on the other side of the road.  
“Misaki don’t!” but it was too late. His moment of recklessness had spurred him into the open. Right into the path of a monster. It was at least 2 meters tall, with long legs which looked broken and twisted, and leaning so heavily to one side that it’s flesh was trailing behind it in ribbons. But the most terrifying thing wasn’t its nightmarish face of the stench of rotting flesh; it was the fact that it was looking right at him.

“Fuck.”

There was a moment of unnatural stillness. No one moved. No one said a word. Then it charged. Misaki had one hope. He held his ground, he couldn’t waste time running, and swung his rifle off his shoulder, loading it as fast as he could and forcing himself to stop shaking. He heard two bullets miss from just left of him and someone shout “MISAKI RUN!” It jumped, he could feel it’s deathly cold breath on his face. He raised the gun.

Bang. It stumbled, didn’t stop, but it was enough. Misaki rolled out of the way a sit’s momentum carried it forward right where he had been standing. It swung back around, Misaki barely avoided one of the fleshy tendrils threatening to hit his face. He swung the gun around and fired again, this time hitting it in the side of the head. It screamed inhumanly and towered over Misaki, who was still crouched on the floor. It dived towards him. Instead of feeling teeth sink into his flesh the brunette heard the horrifying squelch of organs and a wave of fowl smelling liquid drench him from the head down.  
“Ugh oh my god!”  
“Misaki!”

Standing where the zombie once was, was Akihiko holding a long blood stained machete. He helped Misaki to his feet but not a second later was forced to turn away from him again. Misaki finally got a look at their surroundings. They were surrounded by chompers, who seemed to be led by 5 of the monstrous clicker zombies. Takahiro was fending one off by the truck, whilst Haruhiko had already killed one and was making his way through another. Misaki didn’t have much time to process this unfortunately as his attention was caught by a chomper who came a little too close. He shot it down then grabbed the hammer he had tucked into his belt; he couldn’t use the gun that well in close range. Every time one got too close he would strike it as hard as he could. He couldn’t spare a moments thought for the others because they just kept coming at him, in a constant stream of teeth and flesh.

“DAMN IT!” Takahiro yelled from behind him. Misaki stabbed the chomper he was fighting and turned around just in time to see his brothers gun smacked out of his hand, and land high up on top of the truck he was standing by. The zombie’s joints clicked back into place as it lunged forward and pinned him down.  
“NO!”

Misaki ran forwards as fast as he could, but Akihiko got there first. The silver haired man sliced through its back and kicked it away with all his power. It moved just enough to let Takahiro free. Misaki suddenly realized, as Haruhiko too was pushed back by a particularly strong chomper, that they were all cornered. Apparently realizing this, the chompers which had been watching mindlessly from the sidelines suddenly began to converge on them. They had to escape and only way was up.  
“Climb quick!” He cried before turning to clamber up the side of the truck and to the top. 

They climbed. It wasn’t high, 4 or 5 meters high but it was enough. Takahiro got to the top first, grabbing his gun, he laid down cover for them as they all made their way up. Haruhiko was next, then Akihiko. Misaki was just half a meter behind them when he made his mistake. He reached over to grab a piece of jutting out pipe, so he could haul himself up the final few feet. But as his hand closed on it, he felt the metal fall out from beneath him. He felt himself fall at least a meter before he managed to grab onto something. Akihiko yelled down at him, but Misaki couldn’t focus on it. There was blood gushing from his arm were it’d been caught on something sharp. The smell of blood seemed to spur the zombies below him on. He glanced down. There were so many now, all surrounding the truck forming a barricade of flesh and bones. He had to move, or climb, but he couldn’t summon the energy.  
“MISAKI MOVE!” he heard the voice as though it was far away. Did blood loss take it’s toll this quickly? No…that wasn't it. No he was in shock. He looked up at the blurry figure of Akihiko leaning over the edge. He had to fight it, go just a little higher. He pulled his own dead weight up, painstakingly slowly. Then he felt the car move. He froze, suddenly alert. He looked down again. Sure enough the chompers had now been joined by those huge monstrous zombies. Click click click. Misaki scrambled recklessly trying to get to the top, but something grabbed his ankle.  
“NO MISAKI!” Someone shouted. He wasn't sure who. He wasn’t even there anymore. Instead Misaki was underground. He had fallen through a drain and was all alone in the dark. No noise, no savior, just the sound of his own breath and a clicking coming from the air around him. Before he’d found Akihiko, before they’d all been reunited, the closest he’d ever been to death in this world. He was completely alone. Except for one person. His eyes widened, through the open lid of the drain he saw a single hand reach out to him in the dark. Desperately he grabbed it. His last lifeline. He kicked his leg and used his free foot to push. Suddenly he was pulled out of the dark and onto the top of an overturned truck. For a moment he was lost, and then he felt himself collide with a warm body. He gripped it, hand shaking, blood still oozing.

“Misaki.” The brunette looked to the source of the voice. Haruhiko was looking down at him, arms still around him, shirt sticky from his own blood. Misaki jumped away from him, then looked over to the others. Akihiko was watching them with disbelieving eyes. He still had his own arm stretched out as if he’d been offering it to him only seconds before. Why hadn’t he seen it? Behind him, his brother was watching with a look of anger which looked like, at last, it could no longer be contained.

“I knew it. You fucking bas-” 

Before he could finish the truck shook again. Everyone grabbed on to what they could as the larger, stronger mutants began to move the truck from side to side. They were trying to shoot the ones climbing up but there were so many they couldn’t possibly defend themselves form all of them. Akihiko stood up, despite the shaking, and began trying to aim at the larger ones. He managed to wound one but that didn’t stop him. Misaki was starting to loose his grip. The wound on his arm was still weeping and he could slowly feel himself losing strength.  
“I’m out of bullets” Takahiro yelled as the truck shook violently again.  
“I haven’t got any spares!” Haruhiko replied.  
Takahiro cursed loudly then began hacking at the chompers who were coming too close. Misaki watched as the other men desperately fended off the horde which had gathered around them. Some were up on the truck now. He hit one in the head, and another he stabbed in the gut. But then he too ran out of ammo. A violent shake threw him to the ground, some of the zombies were shaken off too, but soon enough they’d be back. For a moment Misaki closed his eyes. So this was the end?

“GET DOWN! GET DOWN!” Misaki’s eyes flew open as a familiar voice rang from across the street. He kicked off a chomper which was threatening to bite at his leg and dove to the ground. He didn’t need to look to know the source of the voice, or who it belonged to.

Tsumori yelled at the top of his lungs, to get the attention of the four men on the rooftop. No sooner had they all heard his warning, did Nowaki roll down the window and open fire on the truck. Misaki could feel the erratic vibrations of the metal beneath his chest as bullets riddled the truck. Even though his hands were covering his ears, he could hear the screeches of the chompers first become more ferocious, as Tsumori drove around them like the madman, leaving no chomper untouched by their reign of metal. Almost as quick as the screams increased, slowly but surely they began to die out. Only when he heard the sounds of the others stir around him did he finally rise, legs shaking, to face the others.

There was flesh everywhere; drenching them like rain drops, piled up against the side of the truck and scattered on the road below. Waiting for them at the side of the road were a wide eyed Tsumori and Nowaki. The latter was panting from the pain of the rebound of the machine gun. Tsumori got out of the car first

“Lucky we got to you guys before this lot did. Come down now, we have to be quick. The sound of that thing could attract more of them.” The doctor trudged nonchalantly through the remains of the zombies beneath them and held out his arms “your arms hurt, climb as much as you can and the just jump. I’ll catch you.” Misaki, as if on autopilot, had completely forgotten about the wound in his arm until then. It hit him like nausea as the adrenaline wore off. He forced himself to descend before the pain became too much. He collapsed against Tsumori at the bottom who immediately took him back to the car to examine his arm.  
“Is anyone else hurt?” Tsumori asked as he began to clean Misaki’s wound. No one responded. In fact, other than the sound them clambering down the side of the truck, they said nothing at all. “Oi, someone answer me; we need to treat you quick if-”

“You bastard!”

Takahiro lunged forward throwing a poorly aimed well at Haruhiko’s face. The black haired man was thrown to the concrete with a hard slam. When he pulled himself round to face his attacker, his mouth and nose were bleeding badly. Akihiko grabbed Takahiro as he went in for another punch, only barely managing to separate his best friend from his brother.  
“What the hell are you doing? Don’t make more work for me assholes!”  
Tsumori laid his tools down and ran over to help Haruhiko up from the floor. The older Usami shrugged him off however and pulled himself off of the ground. Takahiro was still fuming but seemed to have come down form his punching high. Akihiko loosened his arms and Takahiro promptly moved away from him.

“You. I knew it all along. It was so obvious but I let it go on because I couldn’t believe it.” Misaki froze. His brother couldn’t possibly know? How they had hidden it so well. Wait, if he knew, why wasn’t he hitting Akihiko instead of Haruhiko? Misaki had to stop this, even if it meant… telling the truth to his brother. He called out as he stumbled over to them  
“O-onii-chan-”  
“Not now Misaki. I deal with you later.” His brothers tone was so rough it was almost foreign to him. But he couldn’t let that stop him  
“Onii-chan you don’t understand! You’ve made a mistake!” Takahiro rounded on Misaki, towering over him. In his peripheral vision, Misaki saw both Usami brothers tense up  
“I’ve made a mistake? Shouldn’t I be the one saying that to you? Can you look me in the eye and tell me you aren’t hiding your sick relationship from me?” Misaki’s heart was beating a mile a minute. He could see Akihiko watching from the sidelines, he had turned a whiter than a sheet. Takahiro backed off, never braking eye contact.  
“U-usami…san and I are…aren’t…” Misaki couldn’t get the words out. Takahiro scoffed and turned back to face Haruhiko  
“Look what you’ve done to him? How did you convince him to do all that stuff with you?”  
Haruhiko spat blood out onto the floor in front of him before replying “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Takahiro growled and went to punch him again, but Tsumori intervened  
“I saw you! I saw you kiss him, that day we were all reunited!”

Misaki’s eyes widened in horror. He whipped round to see Akihiko’s reaction, but his face was completely unreadable. Slowly the silver haired man’s eyes drifted to meet his, but they seemed empty. Misaki’s heart skipped a beat. He took a step towards his lover  
“U-usagi-san…”  
Whatever Misaki had been about to say however was interrupted by the sound of flesh meeting flesh as Takahiro escaped form Tsumori’s grip long enough to get another punch in.  
“ONII-CHAN STOP! DON’T DO THIS IT WAS MY FAULT!” Takahiro hesitated  
“What do you mean?”  
“Please don’t hurt him anymore, I’ll tell you the truth…” he took the heavy silence as a cue to move on “It was me… I kissed Haruhiko. He wouldn’t have done it otherwise. I promise there’s nothing between us, I swear just please stop this.”  
“But that wasn’t the only time you kissed him was it?” Misaki was surprised when the question didn’t come from his brother, but from Akihiko. Misaki looked up at him with tearful eyes  
“No…” he whispered “b-but we haven’t done anything since I promise you Usami-san!” Misaki was looking at his brother, but all of this was for Akihiko. He had to know how much Misaki loved him, even if he made mistakes.  
“Don’t lie to me, Misaki.”  
“What? No I’m not-”  
“I’ve heard you!” Takahiro’s voice was full of anger and frustration “I’ve seen you disappearing off to see someone in the night! If that wasn’t Haruhiko who could it possibly be?!”

Everything stopped for Misaki as he watched it happen. He locked eyes with his brother in that second, in that moment he asked ‘who’. And he couldn’t stop himself, after so long in his presence it was a natural reaction. In that split second his eyes flickered over to Akihiko. It was over before he’d even realized he’d done it, but it was enough.

Takahiro’s eyes widened as realization dawned on him. He stepped away from Misaki and, painfully slowly, turned to face Akihiko. The silver haired man had constructed his face into a mask of calm, despite Misaki being able to tell that his head was spinning.  
“You.” It wasn’t a question  
“Me.”  
The two stared each other down for what felt like hours. No more than a few seconds could have passed.  
“I trusted you.”  
“Onii-chan please don’t.”  
“If you think I’m done with you then you couldn’t be more wrong.” He turned back to Akihiko “I left him in your care. He was so naïve and you took advantage of that.”  
“Takahiro please don’t just assume things. Maybe this wasn’t the best way to find out, but honestly you know nothing about our relationship.”  
“But I know everything about you. I was your best friend in case you’ve forgotten. You always get what you want, one way or another. And I refuse to believe any of this happened naturally.”  
“Takahiro listen to me-”

“LOOK I GET IT YOU ARE ALL IN SOME STRANGE TRIANGLE SQUARE RELATIONSHIP BUT THERE IS A MAN DYING IN THAT CAR. THAT SAME MAN IS OUR LAST HOPE FOR A CURE SO UNLESS YOU ARE ALL CONTENT TO FESTER IN THIS GRAVEYARD I’D SUGGEST YOU HURRY THE FUCK UP.”

Nowaki, it appeared, had had enough of waiting. He turned the key in the ignition. Tsumori sighed, walked up to the car and took two rucksacks out of the back, then turned round to the group.  
“Takahiro get in the car.”  
“What? why me?”  
“Because you are the reason this guy over here is beat up so I think its best of you have a time out. Go.” Takahiro looked like he wanted to protest, but begrudgingly he trudged over to the car. Before he closed the door, he turned back to those he had left behind  
“We’re. Not. Done.” He spoke through gritted teeth, then got into the car. The engine roared and in a moment the car had driven out of sight.

“Here” the doctor through a backpack at Akihiko. “Spare Ammo, you guys might probably won’t need it, we’re almost there anyway. But just in case.” He strapped the other backpack onto his own back and began to walk in the direction the car had driven. When he heard no footsteps following his own, Tsumori called back  
“We’re not far now. You’ll be able to finish this before the day is over.”

One by one they filed out of the carnage which had been their battleground. No one said a word. Akihiko focused on keeping watch with Tsumori. Haruhiko brought up the rear. Misaki just drifted in between them both. This is how they spent the next hour as they walked towards their destination. Even as they rounded the final corner to find the locked gates of the university hospital just 200 meters ahead of them; no one could cry out in joy or relief. They just walked that final stretch of road, all of them knowing that what lay at the end would change them for better or for worse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for an abrupt end, I just needed to finish this part before we get into the next lot of action and there wasn't a good stop point. Also, some of you may remember that chapter I deleted where I shared my worries about moving to Japan. Well thankfully none of my worries came true! I've been living here for a few months now and I'm loving it! From now on I'll try to post more often, at least more than once in 5 months lol.


	23. Initiation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Misaki struggles with his emotions, our team discover that their biggest enemy could be closer to home than they ever could have imagined.

The journey to the hospital was painfully uneventful. Still shocked from the fighting, and emotional trauma, they had just gone through, the group was hyper vigilant. No one could relax and no one could forget. Akihiko’s eyes darted between the shadowy blood stained alleys which lined the streets, to Misaki still pale, to Haruhiko expressionless as usual. He avoided eye contact with Takahiro as much as possible. A detail that did not go unnoticed by the man in question. 

Takahiro in contrast, was focussed only Akihiko and Misaki’s, refusing to let his mind wander anywhere else. It was as though a switch had flipped in his brain. The on and off button which controlled his sanity slowly moving towards craziness. They’d see soon enough; they shouldn’t have gone against him. They shouldn’t have kept secrets form him. If only they knew the secrets he himself was burdened with. For a while it was a burden he couldn’t wait to share with his brother and his best friend. But now his secrets made him feel superior. Soon, they’d know. It didn’t matter that he didn’t have the phone anymore. Some how this had all gone according to plan without it.

Nowaki didn’t give a shit about the others. This petty drama had cost them 10 minutes. 10 minutes which could make the difference between life or death for Hiroki. He had his foot down hard on the pedal driving fast and recklessly as he’d allow himself with his injured lover in the back seat. 

Just as they expected, the trio in the car reached the hospital before the others.  
“They’re probably still 10 minutes away. We’ll head in without them and re-join with the others.” Nowaki muttered, more to himself than to Takahiro. They pulled up to the tall steel gates which enclosed the campus. They seemed, just as Kisa had said, almost completely intact. Takano and the others had left the front gate open for them to enter, but they were not waiting for them on the other side. Nowaki frowned.  
“Strange, I thought that they would have waited for us here.” Takahiro acted as if he didn’t hear him at all.

They drove slowly, in silence, across the mostly clear tarmac of the car park until they rounded the side of the first building and found themselves in the ambulance bay.  
“Perfect.” Nowaki pulled in and killed the engine. “Come help me unload the supplies.” He called to Takahiro from the other side of the car. Nowaki made his way around to the boot and clicked it open. He observed his supplies then reached forward to pull out a large red box full of iv drips and morphine.

The hairs on the back of his neck prickled. He swung around, whipping the machine gun around form his back and tensed. He was facing the empty car park. He heard Takahiro walk around to join him, unarmed.  
“What’s wrong?” he asked curiously  
“There’s someone out there. I can feel it.”  
“The car park is empty, Nowaki.” Nowaki grit his teeth.  
“Takahiro, Shinobu told me once that he felt as though something was following him. Ever since we all reconnected…” Nowaki couldn’t believe he was confessing this to Takahiro of all people, but it would have to do. “I think… I think I’ve been noticing it too.” Nowaki felt his heartbeat slow down and lowered his gun. “Just, watch my back okay. If I die, no one will be able to cure Hiroki.”  
“You are not going to die, Nowaki. Trust me on that.” Takahiro replied in a calm voice which caught the doctor off guard. He turned back to the boot.  
“Let’s unload this, quickly.”

~~~

“There it is.” Tsumori called back to the others, as they approached the University gate. “Don’t let your guard down just because we’ve made it this far. Have your weapons at the ready.”

Misaki didn’t need telling twice. He held his handgun at the ready as they passed through the gates and entered a mostly empty car park, surrounded by tall grey stone buildings. They walked in silence towards the closest building. Once they got close enough, Misaki got the courage to speak  
“Nowaki would have headed to the hospital are right away.” Tsumori nodded  
“Likely to the ambulance bay. We should head there now.” They all nodded and began moving, with the wall on one side and open ground on the other. This was the best cover they were going to get whilst still out in the open.

They rounded the corner to find, as they had hoped, Nowaki’s car with the boot still open, parked in the bay. They approached, feeling themselves relax just a little more than they were used to. There was no sign of Hiroki in the back, and the medical supplies had been cleared out. There were no bodies or blood stains or bad omens lingering around the car. Misaki lowered his weapon. Then almost as soon as he had relaxed his heart began to tense up again. There were no more distractions now. All that was left was him, Akihiko and Haruhiko. And Tsumori but he wasn’t on his mind right now. How had it happened that in the midst of a zombie apocalypse and the collapse of society, his main problem was something as mundane as a love triangle? He looked over at the Usami brothers.

No matter how he thought about it, it was his fault that things with Haruhiko got out of hand. He should have told Akihiko when they were reunited, confessed everything even if it hurt. But Misaki, it turned out, was a coward. No amount of weapons training from Mizuki or Kaoruko would have changed that.

“…You never initiated anything?” Misaki knew that Akihiko found comfort in the knowledge that Misaki had no feelings for Haruhiko. In the same way Misaki was comforted by the thought that he was not just a replacement for his older brother. Usually this wasn’t an issue, but there were moments of uncertainty. When someone looked a little too close, or stared a little too long for the other not to notice. When that happened, they didn’t shy away from it like they had in the early days of their relationship; they talked about it. That's probably one of the reasons why they lasted so long together. 

But Misaki initiated that kiss, then denied right to Akihiko’s face that it ever happened. What’s worse, only moments later they were reunited. He could almost imagine the joy Haruhiko felt when Misaki finally returned his affections, only for it to be ripped away in a heartbeat. He didn't even have to imagine the betrayal Akihiko felt at the realisation that Misaki had hidden something so important form him; because it was written all over his face and evident in every move he made.

Misaki had approached the car to look inside, whilst the others surveyed the area. Akihiko had gone the furthest away, and kept his back to him. He may have been imagining it, but Misaki could have sworn his lover’s form was slumped a little more than usual. A wave of guilt hit him, this was literally weighing on his shoulders.

Haruhiko was just to his left, staring at a building across from them.

“There’s someone in there.” He spoke almost to quiet for Misaki to hear. He turned to observe the building.  
“reckon it’s the others? They must have gone inside if they aren’t here already.” Tsumori asked, Haruhiko shook his head  
“No, they would have come out to greet us… I think it’s just one zombie.”  
“Do you think it’s a threat?” Haruhiko shouldered his gun and began to walk towards the building  
“Better safe than sorry.”  
“Want us to wait”  
“Shouldn’t take long, go in ahead and I’ll catch up.”

Was Tsumori really going to let him go alone? Misaki thought, surprised. He was about to say something, when he saw Akihiko looking his way. It was as if he was waiting for him to speak up. Misaki locked eyes with the silver haired man, and said nothing as Haruhiko walked away from them all. When he reached the front door of the building he stopped and looked over. For a moment it was as if he was about to run back and rejoin them. But he didn’t. Instead Haruhiko gently pushed open the door and disappeared out of sight.

Tsumori and Misaki watched the place where he had stood for a little longer, but Akihiko seemed keen to move on as soon as possible.  
“You heard what he said, he can catch up. Let’s go.” He walked past Misaki and towards the hospital entrance. The rest quickly followed.

Inside the hospital was grey. The usually clinically white interior was hidden in shadows from the lack of natural light in the building. The hallway itself was almost completely intact, the floor looked as though no one had walked this way for months, the medical supplies and even papers from past patients were still stationed around empty beds in the wards.  
“Does anyone else think this seemed weird?”  
“What?” Tsumori replied  
“That this place is so untouched, I wonder if..?” Misaki trailed off as he approached the wall and flicked a dusty light switch “Yes! Look, the power even works still!”   
“I suppose we just got lucky.” Akihiko grumbled as he walked past Misaki.   
“I don't know if luck exists in a world like this…”  
“Misaki we live off of the stuff. I don't think we should be complaining right now.” Tsumori waved him over, dismissing his worries. Misaki felt uneasy. This was too good. And where were the others?  
They spent some time looking around the first floor. It was mainly large waiting rooms which must have served as the A&E department when this Hospital was in operation. They stumbled upon a few locked rooms and some break rooms which still had food in them, albeit rotten. Not long after that, they headed upstairs to try and find where the others were holding up.  
“They might be worried about making too much noise, maybe that’s why they aren’t looking for us.” Tsumori’s voice was starting to sound concerned now. It seemed like there was not even the slightest sign of the others, wherever they looked. The reached the top of the stairs and stopped there to rest for a moment. Misaki leant against the concrete wall of the stairwell and closed his eyes. They had to be here, they had been with Nowaki and his brother no more than an hour ago, and the others had to have arrived before them. So where were they now? Misaki racked his brain to see if he could remember anything out of the ordinary in the rooms they checked.

Cough.

Misaki’s eyes opened wide, the others had similar expressions. Relief mixed with surprise.  
“You heard that too right?” Tsumori asked, Misaki nodded enthusiastically  
“They’re on this floor somewhere!” 

They headed out of the stairwell and into the main corridor of the floor.　Misaki didn’t pay attention to where the others went, they’d call him over if they found that others. He went over to check some of the rooms on the western side of the building. The first few he found were empty, the next few had some equipment but no people.  
“They must be on the other side of the floor.” Misaki turned back and noticed a door, on the farthest side of the floor swing shut. He gasped, unable to hold back the grin on his face. Finally, something good was happening today. He ran over to the door and pulled it open.

Inside, as he expected, Misaki found Nowaki standing by Hiroki who was in a bed hooked up to various beeping machines. Almost directly in front of him were Akihiko and Tsumori who looked like they had only just run in there themselves.  
“Guys!” Misaki’s voice was relived at first, but his relief soon turned to concern. Instead of seeming relaxed, the faces of his friends showed only horror. Misaki gulped “what’s wrong? Why are you guys looking at me like that?”

“Because there’s a gun to your head.” An unfamiliar female voice said from behind him. Misaki’s heart skipped a beat as he whirled around to face the back of the room. Standing by the wall, alongside his own brother and two other brawny men, was a tall dirty blonde woman. Sure enough the barrel of a gun was pointing right between his eyes.  
“Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Risako Takatsuki, I believe you know my brother?” She grinned and nodded her head as the men behind her grabbed Akihiko and Tsumori and began to force them out of the room. Tsumori struggled and cursed at the men, but Akihiko managed to break free and swung a punch in his captors’ direction. Risako rolled her eyes  
“Mr. Usami, I will kill Misaki in a second if you do not do as we say.” Akihiko froze, eyes finally meeting Misaki’s. He was scared. In that moment of hesitation, the slightly bruised brawny man grabbed Akihiko and dragged him out of the room.   
The whole time, Nowaki watched in horror. Misaki whirled around.  
“Do something!” he pleaded “don't just stand there!” Misaki was almost in tears. Nowaki looked at him, as if to say that he wanted to help, but did not move a muscle.  
“I can’t.” his hands were shaking.  
“You can! Forget about me! Warn the others!”  
“Misaki you don't understand! It’s too late.” Risako coughed, to get their attention.  
“Nowaki why don't you show Misaki our little gift to you?”  
The doctor stared daggers at her for a moment, before pushing back the collar of his doctor’s coat to reveal a chunky metal collar. Misaki stared at it  
“What is that?”  
“That little trick, was your brother’s idea.” Misaki turned around. His brother was still standing there, leant on the wall as if he did not give a care in the world about what was happening. And yet Misaki looked at him seeking comfort. Despite everything that day, surely this was a misunderstanding? Takahiro looked down at him  
“That’s a bomb around his neck. If he does anything we don’t want him to, it’ll explode in a nanosecond.” Misaki took a step back, Risako cocked the gun slightly as if to remind him not to try anything.  
“Surprised? Didn’t think your own brother had it in him to betray you? Welcome to the club.” Misaki was shaking, but he had to ask  
“Where are the others?”  
“You’ll be seeing them soon enough. Providing we don’t kill you first of course.”  
As she spoke one of the muscled men from before came back into the room, this time flanked by a group of five more new people who looked equally as strong. Misaki’s eyes darted to his brother  
“Onii-chan…” The older man’s gaze didn’t waver. Two of the men grabbed the brunette by his arms, he began to flail about and wriggle as much as he could to get any part of his body free. Risako finally dropped the gun, but somehow he was in even more distress now than when it was right between his eyes. “Onii-chan!” he raised his voice, pleading with his brother, but still he did nothing. He managed to free one of his arms and scratched the man to his right. Almost immediately there was a fist in his face and a rush of agonizing pain rang through his body. He flopped, vision blurred by white spots, nose and mouth gushing blood. He opened his mouth and with the last of his strength yelled  
“USAGI-SAN!”

~~~  
Outside three people watched from a storage building on the edge of the campus. They could just about see into the room on the second floor where the new arrivals had been dragged away unceremoniously. When Risako and Takahiro left the room, not long after Misaki had been taken, and Nowaki was left in there alone (other than his numerous brawny guards) to work on Hiroki they turned away from their lookout.  
“You were right. I should have seen it.”  
“I’m sorry you had to find out this way, we all wanted to be in there to help them.”  
“Well now they’re relying on us. Shinobu and Miyagi know our plan, I just pray to god that they can carry it out.” The third man, the shortest of the bunch, stood and made his way to the entrance of the room. He was still limping form his fall, but he’d made it this far. Now they finally had a chance. The black haired man watched him walk away  
“So what do we do now?” The brunette turned back to the taller men  
“Now we wait.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For y'all who don't know, I've always been the kind of author who posts on here like 2 times a month. So if I put up a chapter just understand that the next one won't be up for a couple of weeks. How do you think I dragged this story out so long?


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